Brighton Jones LLC Purchases 754 Shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,834 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 754 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in Target during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Target by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC now owns 264 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 79.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Target Stock Up 2.1%

Target stock opened at $97.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.24 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50-day moving average is $95.65 and its 200-day moving average is $114.78. Target Co. has a fifty-two week low of $87.35 and a fifty-two week high of $167.40.

Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The retailer reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.65 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $24.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.54 billion. Target had a return on equity of 31.11% and a net margin of 4.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Target Co. will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Target Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 13th. Target’s payout ratio is 50.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on TGT. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Target from $97.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America cut shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $145.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Target from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $97.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Target from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Target from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $116.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Target news, insider Brian C. Cornell sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.18, for a total value of $4,328,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 246,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,703,849.54. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.