abrdn plc Grows Position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 5.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 676,770 shares of the retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,353 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Target were worth $104,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Target by 0.3% in the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 84,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $13,190,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Target by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 41,489 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $6,467,000 after purchasing an additional 3,748 shares during the period. Inscription Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inscription Capital LLC now owns 15,965 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE grew its holdings in shares of Target by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 18,678 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689 shares during the period. Finally, Hedges Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Target by 2.6% in the third quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 3,950 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total value of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Melius Research initiated coverage on Target in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Target from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $170.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Target presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.47.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT opened at $147.97 on Wednesday. Target Co. has a 12 month low of $105.23 and a 12 month high of $181.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $153.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.53. The company has a market cap of $68.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.18% and a return on equity of 33.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.80 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.28%.

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.