Mega retailer Target hasn’t recovered from consumer boycotts triggered after the company promoted Pride merchandise, with share prices and market cap declining significantly along with financial and popularity metrics.
American consumers started boycotting Target in May, after the retail chain rolled out its Pride collection, which included some items that targeted children, including books, home décor products, and transgender swimsuits for adults with a “tuck-friendly” feature.
In the first two weeks of May, when the company’s Pride controversy began to go viral, its market capitalization declined by $1.85 billion.
In the three weeks between May 15 and June 5, the market cap fell by an additional $11.66 billion.
Though the market cap recovered somewhat to $60.34 billion as of July 10, it’s still $11.7 billion less than what it was on May 1.
Amid the Pride Month controversy, institutional interest in trading Target stock has fallen as buying and selling of Target shares crashed in the second quarter.
Total institutional inflows for Target were about $35 million in Q2 compared with $2.14 billion in the first quarter, according to data from MarketBeat. Meanwhile, total outflows for Q2 were $91.4 million, down from $1.07 billion in the previous quarter.
Multiple brokerages have also downgraded their views on Target. On June 1, JPMorgan Chase downgraded Target from an “overweight” target to a “neutral” one—lowering the price target from $182 to $144.
On June 9, Citigroup changed its recommendation for Target from “buy” to “neutral.” A few days later, The Street downgraded Target from a “B-“ rating to “C+” rating.
In terms of popularity, the brand is at its lowest-ever level, according to a poll by YouGov.
In the second quarter, Target was ranked as the fifth most popular department store in the United States with a popularity score of 65 percent, which is the lowest score since YouGov began tracking data beginning in Q3 of 2020. At that time, the company received a 71 percent popularity score.
Target now ranks below Costco, Dollar Tree, Sam’s Club, and TJ Maxx.
