Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. Has $506,000 Stock Holdings in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,853 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Target were worth $506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TGT. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Target by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 735 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in Target by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 38,036 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,805 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Target by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,045,897 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $115,645,000 after acquiring an additional 286,858 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Target in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,034,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Target by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,762,227 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $747,699,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TGT shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Target from $142.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $153.00 price objective on shares of Target in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Target from $209.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Target from $167.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Target from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.11.

Target Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Target stock opened at $142.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $155.71 and its 200 day moving average is $152.63. Target Co. has a 1 year low of $102.93 and a 1 year high of $181.86.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 22nd. The retailer reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $24.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.52 billion. Target had a net margin of 3.87% and a return on equity of 31.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Target Co. will post 9.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Target Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Target’s payout ratio is 49.38%.

Target 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.