Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. Invests $80,000 in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 539 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased its position in Target by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 178 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in Target by 0.6% during the first quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 10,773 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,909,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Target by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,382 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Target by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,130 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TGT. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Target from $147.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com raised Target from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.68.

Target Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TGT traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $151.28. 4,045,069 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,037,096. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.90. Target Co. has a twelve month low of $102.93 and a twelve month high of $181.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.09.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Target Co. will post 9.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.28%.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total value of $7,140,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,210,768.81. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Target Company 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.