Target Corp on Tuesday reported its sixth consecutive drop in quarterly profit as consumers pare spending on the retailer's fashionable clothing and fall behind making payments on their Target credit cards.

Net income fell to $609 million, or 81 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended January 31, from $1.028 billion, or $1.23 per share, a year ago.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 83 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

It shares declined 1.5 pct to $28 in premarket trading.

Quarterly sales declined 1.6 percent to $19 billion from $19.3 billion a year ago, while sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, dropped 5.9 percent.

Target has struggled as its shoppers, following more austere budgets, are cutting back on trips to the retailer and avoiding purchases of its once-hot cheap but chic clothes and home decor. Its profits are also being hit as more customers default on their Target credit card bills.

In January, Target said it would cut roughly 600 jobs at its headquarters, leave another 400 positions unfilled and close a distribution center that employs 500 workers.

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri)

Target