Smead Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Smead Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,096,533 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 154,671 shares during the period. Target makes up 2.8% of Smead Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Smead Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.24% of Target worth $156,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. United Services Automobile Association grew its position in shares of Target by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 44,232 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target during the 4th quarter valued at $605,000. Tower View Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 234 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Target by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 519,634 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $73,819,000 after purchasing an additional 24,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Target by 109.9% during the 4th quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 27,267 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 14,274 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TGT shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Target from $142.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Target from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Target from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Target has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.85.

Target Stock Up 1.2 %

TGT traded up $2.03 on Thursday, hitting $166.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,763,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,768,075. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.29. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $102.93 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.14.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.57. Target had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 33.41%. The business had revenue of $31.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Target’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other Target news, insider Melissa K. Kremer sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.05, for a total transaction of $495,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,038,481.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Target news, insider Melissa K. Kremer sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.05, for a total transaction of $495,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,038,481.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.52, for a total transaction of $7,538,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 346,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,115,870.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 52,600 shares of company stock valued at $8,819,598. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.