Northwest Bancshares Inc. Invests $1.30 Million in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. purchased a new position in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 8,356 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,302,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TAP Consulting LLC bought a new position in Target in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,403,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Target by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 50,000 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,793,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Target by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,243,928 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $193,879,000 after acquiring an additional 41,394 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Target by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 217,214 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $38,484,000 after acquiring an additional 36,941 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC lifted its stake in Target by 166.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 16,179 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,522,000 after acquiring an additional 10,103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Target

In other news, insider Richard H. Gomez sold 6,348 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.17, for a total transaction of $997,715.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 123,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,418,510.67. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Matthew A. Liegel sold 1,000 shares of Target stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.13, for a total value of $153,130.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,173.88. This trade represents a 12.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,348 shares of company stock worth $8,290,995. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on TGT. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Target from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Target from $156.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Target from $180.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Target from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Target has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.47.

Target Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of TGT opened at $156.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $152.84 and a 200 day moving average of $150.32. Target Co. has a 52-week low of $128.37 and a 52-week high of $181.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The retailer reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.39. Target had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $25.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.80 earnings per share. Target’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Target Co. will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.28%.

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.