Target stock hits new 52-week high as turnaround optimism builds

Target’s shares hit a new 52-week high of $128.05 on Friday, then finished the session at $127.84, a sharp turn from the $83.44 low set on November 20, 2025. At that close, the Minneapolis retailer carried a market value of about $57.893 billion, with roughly 452.86 million shares outstanding.

The stock’s rise has been steady enough to put Target among the stronger names in the S&P 500’s recent run, alongside Advanced Micro Devices and Dell Technologies. Over the past 12 months, Target shares have climbed 37.17%, and they were up 30.65% year to date as of April 17. Morgan Stanley added to the momentum on April 14, reiterating an Overweight rating and a $145 price target while saying it saw a path to a credible improvement story.

For Target workers, though, a fresh stock high is more relevant to retirement accounts than to weekly take-home pay. Anyone holding Target shares through a 401(k) or other equity-linked savings plan has likely seen paper gains improve with the rally, but the stock price does not automatically mean higher wages, more hours, or easier staffing on the sales floor. Those day-to-day issues still depend on how management allocates labor, sets payroll, and executes the turnaround in stores.

That turnaround is what investors are betting on. After Target’s March 3 earnings report, management forecast 2026 adjusted earnings of $7.50 to $8.50 a share and said net sales should rise about 2% this fiscal year. Executives also said the company expects growth in every quarter of fiscal 2026 and plans to invest more in stores, technology, merchandising resets, and staffing. Those are the kinds of moves that can affect everything from checkout speed to backroom workload, but they do not guarantee immediate relief for workers.

The rally has also come with pressure outside the trading screen. The American Federation of Teachers has called for a boycott over Target’s response to federal immigration enforcement, adding to an earlier boycott tied to the company’s rollback of DEI initiatives. Target’s next earnings report is expected around May 20, 2026, and that update will give workers and investors another read on whether the company’s stock momentum is being matched by better sales, stronger operations, and any meaningful change inside stores.