First Trust Advisors LP Has $150.91 Million Stock Position in Target Corporation $TGT

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 7.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,245,104 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 104,314 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Target were worth $150,907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TGT. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Target in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Jessup Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Target during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on TGT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $123.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research report on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Target from $120.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Target in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on Target from $148.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Target from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Target presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.15.

Target Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TGT opened at $134.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $61.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.69. Target Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.44 and a fifty-two week high of $144.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The retailer reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $25.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.66 billion. Target had a return on equity of 22.92% and a net margin of 3.24%.Target’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. Target has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.500-8.500 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Target Corporation will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.14. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Target

In related news, insider Cara A. Sylvester sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.89, for a total transaction of $1,258,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 45,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,782,127.70. This represents a 17.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Target Company Profile

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.