Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Increases Stock Holdings in Target Corporation $TGT

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,480 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Target were worth $9,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Target by 10.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,267,577 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $113,702,000 after buying an additional 124,371 shares during the last quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Target during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,236,000. LJI Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 446.4% during the third quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,836 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after buying an additional 19,474 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Target by 15.4% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 342,487 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $30,721,000 after buying an additional 45,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new position in shares of Target during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,694,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $128.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.94. Target Corporation has a twelve month low of $83.44 and a twelve month high of $133.10.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The retailer reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.16 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $30.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.52 billion. Target had a return on equity of 22.25% and a net margin of 3.54%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 EPS. Target has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.300- EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Target Corporation will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be paid a $1.14 dividend. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TGT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group raised Target from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore set a $125.00 price objective on Target in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Target from $110.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Mizuho set a $120.00 price objective on Target in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Target from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Target presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 2,053 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.19, for a total transaction of $240,591.07. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,423,038.17. This represents a 14.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Target

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is a U.S.-based general merchandise retailer headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company operates a network of full-line and small-format stores across the United States alongside a national e-commerce platform and mobile app. Target’s retail assortment spans apparel, home goods, electronics, groceries and household essentials, plus beauty, baby and pet categories. The firm complements national brands with a portfolio of owned and exclusive labels and partnerships that help differentiate its merchandise assortment.

Target traces its roots to the Dayton Company, founded by George Dayton in 1902; the Target discount chain was launched in 1962 and the parent company later adopted the Target Corporation name.