Columbia Asset Management Buys 3,535 Shares of Target Corporation $TGT

Columbia Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,202 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,535 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Target were worth $3,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TGT. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Target by 101.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,080 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 56,384 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,622,000 after acquiring an additional 6,253 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 208,850.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,179 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 4,177 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Target by 25.9% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 70,740 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $7,382,000 after acquiring an additional 14,547 shares during the last quarter. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Target in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Target from $106.00 to $105.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Target from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Target from $104.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.48.

Target Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Target stock opened at $89.82 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.80. The company has a market cap of $40.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.47, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Target Corporation has a 12-month low of $86.30 and a 12-month high of $161.50.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $24.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.84 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.72% and a return on equity of 23.43%. The company’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. Target has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.000-9.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Target Corporation will post 8.69 EPS for the current year.

Target Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a $1.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $4.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. This is a boost from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Target’s payout ratio is currently 53.15%.

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.