The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $85.62 Million Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 549,363 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 19,790 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.12% of Target worth $85,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of TGT. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 156.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 218 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Target during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TGT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Daiwa America cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HSBC cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Target in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $160.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Target news, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total transaction of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at $19,418,510.67. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Target Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Target stock opened at $130.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $149.84 and its 200 day moving average is $148.92. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.45). Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The company had revenue of $25.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Target’s payout ratio is 47.51%.

About Target

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.