Guggenheim just nudged Target higher

Another green light for Target

Target is getting a fresh thumbs-up from Wall Street. Guggenheim analyst John Heinbockel kept a Buy rating on the retailer and bumped the price target to $140 from $130.

Why this matters

That’s not a moonshot call, but it does matter. When analysts raise targets, they’re basically saying, “Yep, the story looks a little better than it did before.” And in Target’s case, that story has been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to a string of recent calls and a major leadership change.

The bigger Target plot twist

Investors have been chewing on several Target headlines at once:

• Morgan Stanley and Jefferies have both sounded constructive recently
• Target just handed the CEO baton to its COO
• The company is still trying to convince everyone its comeback is real, not just retail fan fiction

A higher target from Guggenheim won’t move the entire market on its own, but it adds to the pile of evidence that some analysts think Target’s margins and execution are headed in the right direction.

Big picture

For a stock like Target, analyst upgrades aren’t the whole game — but they can help shape sentiment, and sentiment is half the battle in retail. Another firm inching the target price higher says the bulls are still hanging around the aisle, even if they’re not exactly sprinting to checkout.