Target Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.12 (NYSE:TGT)

Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be given a dividend of 1.12 per share by the retailer on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%.

Target has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 54 consecutive years. Target has a payout ratio of 44.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Target to earn $9.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.4%.

Target Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $134.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $61.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.27, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.16. Target has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $145.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TGT has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Target from $167.00 to $139.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Target from $156.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Target from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $160.57.

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.