Portland Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $207,000 in Target Co. (NYSE:TGT)

Portland Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT – Buy Rating) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,398 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

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A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Target by 20.7% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,177,540 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,213,466,000 after buying an additional 1,401,559 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Target by 122,068.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,793,906 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $711,368,000 after buying an additional 4,789,982 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Target by 27.5% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,423,218 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $624,690,000 after purchasing an additional 953,518 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Target by 2.0% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,394,714 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $620,665,000 after buying an additional 85,405 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Target by 12.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,500,093 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $530,570,000 after purchasing an additional 269,648 shares during the period. 78.86% of the shares are currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analytics upgrades and downloads

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TGT shares. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Target from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Target from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Target from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $190.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Target from $190.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Target cut their target price on shares of Target from $217.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has an “Average Buy” rating and an average price target of $182.30, according to MarketBeat.

Target Price Performance

TGT traded up $0.53 on Friday, hitting $166.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,141,544 shares compared to its average volume of 3,007,393 shares. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.40 and a 200 day moving average of $161.29. The company has a market capitalization of $76.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.14, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Target Co. has a one year low of $137.16 and a one year high of $254.87.

Target Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 15th will be issued a $1.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 14th. This translates to a dividend of $4.32 on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Target’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.18%.

Target Company Profile

(Get a rating)

Target Corp. deals with the operation and ownership of general merchandise stores. Offers a variety of foods including perishables, dry food, dairy products and frozen products. The company was founded in 1902 by George Draper Dayton and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TGT? Target Co. (NYSE:TGT – Get Rating ) Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades.

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