Empowered Funds LLC Buys 86,955 Shares of Target Corporation $TGT

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 196.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,261 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 86,955 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $15,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Target by 16.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 580 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in Target by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,474 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its holdings in Target by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 2,951 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Target by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,163 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Valtinson Bruner Financial Planning LLC now owns 3,604 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on TGT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Target from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Target in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Target from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $162.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Target in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cara A. Sylvester sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.89, for a total transaction of $1,258,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 45,930 shares in the company, valued at $5,782,127.70. This represents a 17.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Target Price Performance

Shares of TGT stock opened at $144.18 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Target Corporation has a twelve month low of $83.44 and a twelve month high of $145.85. The company has a market cap of $65.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.48.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $25.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.66 billion. Target had a return on equity of 22.92% and a net margin of 3.24%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. Target has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Target Corporation will post 8.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a boost from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Target’s payout ratio is presently 60.24%.

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.