Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Target (NYSE:TGT) Stock

Target (NYSE:TGT) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $130.00 to $133.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the retailer’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential downside of 0.46% from the company’s current price.

TGT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HSBC lowered shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $138.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Target in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut their price target on Target from $195.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Target from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $184.00 to $108.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.23.

Target Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE TGT opened at $133.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $136.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $145.14. Target has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $181.86. The firm has a market cap of $61.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The retailer reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.45). The firm had revenue of $25.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.87 billion. Target had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 31.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Target will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Target by 33.9% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 53,968 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $7,989,000 after buying an additional 13,678 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Target by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 42,627 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $6,311,000 after acquiring an additional 7,468 shares during the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Target by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 7,179 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Target by 56.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 14,228 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Target by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,506 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the period. 79.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.