Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys Shares of 96,924 Target Corporation $TGT

Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new stake in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 96,924 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Target by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,444,338 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $5,074,984,000 after purchasing an additional 6,607,982 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Target during the second quarter valued at about $578,009,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Target by 4.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,736,101 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,624,016,000 after buying an additional 1,529,026 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Target by 133.9% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,223,776 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $219,376,000 after buying an additional 1,273,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Target by 415.2% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,335,693 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $131,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076,425 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Target from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America cut their target price on Target from $93.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Roth Mkm set a $88.00 target price on Target in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Target from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.03.

Target Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Target stock opened at $102.74 on Friday. Target Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.44 and a 12-month high of $142.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The retailer reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. Target had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 22.74%. The firm had revenue of $25.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Target has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.000-8.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 11th will be given a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 11th. This represents a $4.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Target’s payout ratio is presently 55.34%.

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.