Clarius Group LLC Has $455,000 Stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Clarius Group LLC lowered its position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,368 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Target by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,484,252 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,732,801 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 11.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,980,381 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,555,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,044 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Target by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,414,025 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,461,456,000 after buying an additional 130,691 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Target by 6.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $647,652,000 after buying an additional 279,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Target by 1.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,321,055 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $517,620,000 after buying an additional 62,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Price Performance

Target stock opened at $133.62 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.16. Target Co. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 47.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TGT. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Target from $160.00 to $120.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Target from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.23.

Target Profile

Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers apparel for women, men, boys, girls, toddlers, and infants and newborns, as well as jewelry, accessories, and shoes; and beauty and personal care, baby gear, cleaning, paper products, and pet supplies.