First Trust Advisors LP Buys 501,898 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT - Free Report) by 421.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 621,051 shares of the retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 501,898 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.14% of Target worth $83,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Target by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,338,729 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,532,769,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358,348 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Target by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,885,015 shares of the retailer's stock valued at $1,332,317,000 after purchasing an additional 470,990 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $757,892,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Target by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,832,585 shares of the retailer's stock worth $518,089,000 after purchasing an additional 234,409 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Target by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,144,828 shares of the retailer's stock worth $425,118,000 after buying an additional 91,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TGT shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Target from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Roth Capital set a $122.00 target price on Target in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group dropped their price target on shares of Target from $150.00 to $145.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird cut Target from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Target from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $142.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $132.37.

Target Trading Up 3.4 %

TGT stock traded up $3.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $95.32. 7,708,919 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,679,293. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $43.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.28. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $87.35 and a 52-week high of $167.40. The stock's fifty day moving average is $106.90 and its 200-day moving average is $128.68.

Target (NYSE:TGT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The retailer reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.24 by $0.17. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The firm had revenue of $30.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.83 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. Target's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.56%.

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.