Target (NYSE:TGT) Rating Lowered to “Underperform” at Sanford C. Bernstein

Target (NYSE:TGT) was downgraded by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $82.00 target price on the retailer’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price objective points to a potential downside of 14.93% from the stock’s current price.

TGT has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Target from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Target from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Cfra Research cut shares of Target from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Gordon Haskett cut Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.20.

Target Stock Down 0.6%

TGT stock opened at $96.39 on Monday. Target has a twelve month low of $87.35 and a twelve month high of $167.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $43.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $99.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.45.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $30.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.83 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Target will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Target

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Target by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 99,895 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $13,504,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Target by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the 4th quarter valued at $585,000. City State Bank lifted its position in shares of Target by 120.7% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 812 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Target by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 15,734 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,127,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

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.