Claro Advisors LLC Has $643,000 Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 85.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,127 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Target by 6.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,374,851 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $647,652,000 after acquiring an additional 279,656 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Target by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,316,738 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $639,050,000 after buying an additional 440,307 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Target by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,114,400 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $461,031,000 after purchasing an additional 435,229 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Target by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,094,644 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $458,131,000 after purchasing an additional 272,521 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Target by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,035,326 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $301,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Target from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on Target in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.47.

Target Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Target stock opened at $152.13 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $70.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.24. Target Co. has a 12-month low of $127.19 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.34.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $25.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.19 billion. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. Target’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 9.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is 46.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In other news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $7,140,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 303,843 shares in the company, valued at $48,210,768.81. This trade represents a 12.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. The trade was a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,348 shares of company stock valued at $8,290,995. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.