Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers food assortments, including perishables, dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items; apparel, accessories, home décor products, electronics, toys, seasonal offerings, food, and other merchandise; and beauty and household essentials. It also provides in-store amenities, such as Target Café, Target Optical, Starbucks, and other food service offerings. The company sells its products through its stores; and digital channels, including Target.com. As of March 09, 2022, the company operated approximately 2,000 stores. Target Corporation was incorporated in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
TGT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Target from $225.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 8th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Target from $188.00 to $184.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 8th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on Target from $286.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 23rd. Cowen decreased their price objective on Target from $265.00 to $190.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Target from $239.00 to $231.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $189.08.
Target Stock Performance
TGT opened at $166.97 on Tuesday. Target has a 12-month low of $137.16 and a 12-month high of $268.98. The stock has a market cap of $77.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $151.90 and a 200-day moving average of $192.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.
Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 18th. The retailer reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.00 by ($0.81). The firm had revenue of $24.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.48 billion. Target had a return on equity of 44.75% and a net margin of 5.48%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Target will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.
Target Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.08 per share. This is a boost from Target's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $4.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 16th. Target's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.85%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider John J. Mulligan sold 45,490 shares of Target stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.98, for a total transaction of $6,367,690.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 157,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,023,473.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.