Washington, D.C. 20549

For the quarterly period ended July 30, 2016

Commission File Number 1-6049

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: 612/304-6073

Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report: N/A

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes  x No  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x No  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).

Large accelerated filer   x   Accelerated filer   o   Non-accelerated filer   o   Smaller Reporting company   o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).                 Yes  o No  x

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of registrant's classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. Total shares of common stock, par value $0.0833, outstanding at August 18, 2016 were 574,864,718.

TARGET CORPORATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

Note: Per share amounts may not foot due to rounding. 

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Common Stock Authorized 6,000,000,000 shares, $.0833 par value; 574,801,225 , 602,226,517 and 630,446,029 shares issued and outstanding at July 30, 2016 , January 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015 , respectively.

Preferred Stock Authorized 5,000,000 shares, $.01 par value; no shares were issued or outstanding at July 30, 2016 , January 30, 2016 or August 1, 2015 .

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited)

1. Accounting Policies

These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statement disclosures in our 2015 Form 10-K. We use the same accounting policies in preparing quarterly and annual financial statements. All adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of quarterly operating results are reflected herein and are of a normal, recurring nature. Certain prior-year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. Unless otherwise noted, amounts presented within the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements refer to our continuing operations.

Due to the seasonal nature of our business, quarterly revenues, expenses, earnings, and cash flows are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.

2. Discontinued Operations

As part of a March 2016 settlement between Target Canada Co. and certain other wholly owned subsidiaries of Target (collectively Canada Subsidiaries) and all of their former landlords, we agreed to subordinate a portion of our intercompany claims and make certain cash contributions to the Target Canada Co. estate in exchange for a full release from our obligations under guarantees of certain leases of the Canada Subsidiaries. The settlement was contingent upon the Canada Subsidiaries' creditors' and the court's approval of a plan of compromise and arrangement to complete the controlled, orderly, and timely wind-down of the Canada Subsidiaries (Plan). During the second quarter of 2016, a Plan was approved. The net pretax financial impact of the settlement and Plan was materially consistent with amounts previously recorded in our financial statements. For the three and six months ended July 30, 2016, net earnings from discontinued operations primarily reflect tax benefits from investment losses in Canada recognized upon court approval of the Canada Subsidiaries' liquidation plan. During the second quarter of 2016, we made cash contributions of $27 million to the Target Canada Co. estate and received cash distributions of $160 million .

3. Restructuring Initiatives

In 2015, we initiated a series of headquarters workforce reductions intended to increase organizational effectiveness and provide cost savings that can be reinvested in our growth initiatives. As a result, we recorded $11 million and $114 million of severance and other benefits-related charges within selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) during the three and six months ended August 1, 2015. The vast majority of these expenses required cash expenditures and were not included in our segment results. An accrual for restructuring costs of $14 million was included in other current liabilities as of August 1, 2015. No balance remained as of July 30, 2016.

4. Fair Value Measurements

Fair value measurements are reported in one of three levels based on the lowest level of significant input used: Level 1 (unadjusted quoted prices in active markets); Level 2 (observable market inputs, other than quoted prices included in Level 1); and Level 3 (unobservable inputs that cannot be corroborated by observable market data).

(a) See Note 7 for additional information on interest rate swaps.

(a) The carrying amounts of certain other current assets, accounts payable, and certain accrued and other current liabilities approximate fair value due to their short-term nature.

(b) The carrying amount and estimated fair value of debt exclude unamortized swap valuation adjustments and capital lease obligations.

5. Notes Payable and Long-Term Debt

We obtain short-term financing from time to time under our commercial paper program, a form of notes payable. No balances were outstanding at any time during 2016 or 2015.

In April 2016, we issued unsecured fixed rate debt of $1 billion at 2.5% that matures in April 2026 and $1 billion at 3.625% that matures in April 2046. During the first and second quarter of 2016, we used cash on hand and proceeds from these issuances to repurchase $565 million and $824 million of debt, respectively, before its maturity at a market value of $820 million and $981 million , respectively. We recognized a loss on early retirement of approximately $261 million and $161 million in first and second quarter, respectively, which was recorded in net interest expense in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

6. Data Breach

In prior periods we have separately reported on our accrual for estimated probable losses and cumulative expenses with respect to the data breach we experienced in the fourth quarter of 2013 (the Data Breach). As of the date of this filing we have resolved the most significant claims relating to the Data Breach and there were no material changes to our loss contingency assessment relating to the few remaining claims during the second quarter. We do not expect there to be any material changes to the assessment of our exposure from this event, and we will no longer be providing separate reporting with respect to the Data Breach.

7. Derivative Financial Instruments

Our derivative instruments primarily consist of interest rate swaps, which are used to mitigate interest rate risk. As a result of our use of derivative instruments, we have counterparty credit exposure to large global financial institutions. We monitor this concentration of counterparty credit risk on an ongoing basis. See Note 4 for a description of the fair value measurement of our derivative instruments and their classification on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Position.

As of July 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015 , interest rate swaps with notional amounts totaling $1,000 million and $1,250 million , respectively, were designated as fair value hedges. No ineffectiveness was recognized during the three months ended July 30, 2016 or August 1, 2015 .

Periodic payments, valuation adjustments, and amortization of gains or losses on our derivative contracts had the following effect on our Consolidated Statements of Operations:

The amount remaining on unamortized hedged debt valuation gains from terminated or de-designated interest rate swaps that will be amortized into earnings over the remaining lives of the underlying debt totaled $8 million , $15 million , and $25 million , at July 30, 2016 , January 30, 2016 , and August 1, 2015 , respectively.

8. Share Repurchase

Under our current $10 billion share repurchase program, we have repurchased 125.0 million shares of common stock through July 30, 2016 at an average price of $70.57 , for a total investment of $8.8 billion .

Note: Excludes shares withheld to settle employee statutory tax withholding related to the vesting of share-based awards.

(a) Includes 0.2 million and 0.1 million shares delivered upon the noncash settlement of prepaid contracts during the six months ended July 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015, respectively. These contracts had an original cash investment of $12 million and $3 million , respectively, and aggregate market value of $13 million and $7 million . These contracts are among the investment vehicles used to reduce our economic exposure related to our nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Note 10 provides the details of our positions in prepaid forward contracts.

9. Share-Based Compensation

During the first quarter of 2016, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-09, Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (ASU 2016-09). As a result of adoption, we recognized $1 million and $18 million of excess tax benefits related to share-based payments in our provision for income taxes for the three and six months ended July 30, 2016. These items were historically recorded in additional paid-in capital. In addition, for each period presented, cash flows related to excess tax benefits are classified as an operating activity along with other income tax cash flows. Cash paid on employees' behalf related to shares withheld for tax purposes is classified as a financing activity. Retrospective application of the cash flow presentation requirements resulted in increases to both net cash provided by operations and net cash required for financing activities of $74 million for the six months ended August 1, 2015. Our compensation expense each period continues to reflect estimated forfeitures.

10. Pension and Other Benefits

Pension Benefits

We provide pension plan benefits to certain eligible team members.

Other Benefits

We offer unfunded nonqualified deferred compensation plans to certain team members. We mitigate some of our risk of these plans through investing in vehicles, including company-owned life insurance and prepaid forward contracts in our own common stock, that offset a substantial portion of our economic exposure to the returns of these plans. These investment vehicles are general corporate assets and are marked to market with the related gains and losses recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations in the period they occur.

The total change in fair value for contracts indexed to our own common stock recognized in earnings was pretax (loss)/income of ($2) million and $1 million for the three and six months ended July 30, 2016 , respectively, and pretax income of $1 million and $4 million for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015 , respectively. During the six months ended July 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015 , we made no investments in prepaid forward contracts in our own common stock. Adjusting our position in these investment vehicles may involve repurchasing shares of Target common stock when settling the forward contracts as described in Note 8. The settlement dates of these instruments are regularly renegotiated with the counterparty. At July 30, 2016 , January 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015, we held asset positions in prepaid forward contracts for 0.4 million shares of our common stock, for a total cash investment of $17 million , $18 million and $18 million ( $41.11 per share) and a contractual fair value of $31 million , $32 million and $36 million , respectively.

11. Accumulated Other Comprehensive (Loss) / Income

(a) Represents gains and losses on cash flow hedges, net of $1 million of taxes.

(b) Represents amortization of pension and other benefit liabilities, net of $6 million of taxes.

12. Segment Reporting

Our segment measure of profit is used by management to evaluate performance and make operating decisions. We operate as a single segment that includes all of our continuing operations, which are designed to enable guests to purchase products seamlessly in stores, online or through mobile devices.

Note: Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

(a) Refer to Note 3 for more information on restructuring costs.

(b) Represents contract termination charges, severance and other items related to the December 2015 sale of our former pharmacy and clinic businesses to CVS.

(c) Refer to Note 6 for more information on Data Breach-related costs.

(d) The sum of segment SG&A expenses, restructuring costs, pharmacy transaction-related costs, and Data Breach-related costs equal consolidated SG&A expenses.

(a) Represents the insurance receivable related to the Data Breach.

Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Executive Summary

Second quarter 2016 includes the following notable items:

Sales were $16,169 million for the three months ended July 30, 2016 , a decrease of $1,258 million or 7.2 percent from the same period in the prior year. The decrease is due to the December 2015 sale of our pharmacy and clinic businesses (Pharmacy Transaction), which generated $1,055 million of sales during the three months ended August 1, 2015, and by a decrease in comparable sales. Operating cash flow provided by continuing operations was $1,396 million and $2,040 million for the six months ended July 30, 2016 and August 1, 2015 , respectively. The decrease is due to the payment of approximately $500 million of taxes during the first quarter of 2016, primarily related to the Pharmacy Transaction.

Note: Amounts may not foot due to rounding. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (Adjusted EPS), a non-GAAP metric, excludes the impact of certain matters not related to our routine retail operations and the impact of our discontinued Canadian operations. Management believes that Adjusted EPS is meaningful to provide period-to-period comparisons of our operating results. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP measures is provided on page 17.

We report after-tax return on invested capital (ROIC) from continuing operations as we believe ROIC provides a meaningful measure of the effectiveness of our capital allocation over time. For the trailing twelve months ended July 30, 2016 , ROIC was 15.8 percent, compared with 13.3 percent for the trailing twelve months ended August 1, 2015 . Excluding the net gain on the Pharmacy Transaction, ROIC was 13.7 percent for the trailing twelve months ended July 30, 2016 . A reconciliation of ROIC is provided on page 18.

Analysis of Results of Operations

Segment Results

Note: We operate as a single segment which includes all of our continuing operations, excluding net interest expense and certain other discretely managed items. Our segment operations are designed to enable guests to purchase products seamlessly in stores, online, or through mobile devices. See Note 12 of our Financial Statements for a reconciliation of our segment results to earnings before income taxes.

(a) Sales include $1,055 million and $2,128 million related to our former pharmacy and clinic businesses for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015, respectively, and cost of sales include $840 million and $1,687 million, respectively. The December 2015 sale of these businesses to CVS had no notable impact on EBITDA or EBIT.

(b) SG&A includes $163 million and $321 million of net profit-sharing income under our credit card program agreement for the three and six months ended July 30, 2016 , respectively, and $159 million and $311 million for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015 , respectively.

Note: Rate analysis metrics are computed by dividing the applicable amount by sales.

(a) Excluding sales of our former pharmacy and clinic businesses, EBITDA margin rates were 11.6 percent and 11.4 percent for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015, respectively, and EBIT margin rates were 8.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

Sales

Sales include merchandise sales, net of expected returns, from our stores and digital channels, and gift card breakage. Digital channel sales include all sales initiated through mobile applications and our conventional websites. Digital channel sales may be fulfilled through our distribution centers or our stores.

(a) Excluding sales of our former pharmacy and clinic businesses, stores and digital channels sales were 97.1 percent and 2.9 percent of total sales, respectively, for both the three and six months ended August 1, 2015.

(a) Pharmacy represented six percent of total sales for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015.

Comparable sales is a measure that highlights the performance of our stores and digital channels by measuring the change in sales for a period over the comparable, prior-year period of equivalent length. Comparable sales include all sales, except sales from stores open less than 13 months, digital acquisitions operating less than one year, stores that have been closed, and digital acquisitions that we no longer operate. We removed pharmacy and clinic sales from the 2015 sales amounts when calculating 2016 comparable sales. Comparable sales measures vary across the retail industry. As a result, our comparable sales calculation is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Note: Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

Note: Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

The collective interaction of a broad array of macroeconomic, competitive, and consumer behavioral factors, as well as sales mix, and transfer of sales to new stores makes further analysis of sales metrics infeasible.

We monitor the percentage of sales that are paid for using REDcards (REDcard Penetration) because our internal analysis has indicated that a meaningful portion of the incremental purchases on REDcards are also incremental sales for Target, with the remainder representing a shift in tender type. Guests receive a 5 percent discount on virtually all purchases when they use a REDcard at Target.

Note: Excluding pharmacy and clinic sales, total REDcard penetration was 23.2 percent and 22.9 percent for the three and six months ended August 1, 2015, respectively. Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

Gross Margin Rate

For the three and six months ended July 30, 2016 , our gross margin rate was 31.3 percent and 31.1 percent , respectively, compared with 30.9 percent and 30.6 percent in the comparable period last year. The increase was primarily due to the Pharmacy Transaction, partially offset by increased shipping costs. Cost of goods savings helped offset the impact of a competitive promotional environment.

Selling, General, and Administrative Expense Rate

For the three and six months ended July 30, 2016 , our SG&A expense rate was 20.1 percent and 19.8 percent , respectively, compared to 19.9 percent in the comparable periods last year. For the three and six months ended July 30, 2016, the benefit of the Pharmacy Transaction and technology-related cost savings was offset by investments in our team and other items. Other items include the impact of other broad-based cost savings initiatives that were more than offset by broad-based reinvestment in our business and, for the three months ended, the deleveraging impact of the decline in sales.

Store Data