diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/BaseEntityRepository.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/BaseEntityRepository.java
index ddccb4f6e..1e79ce588 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/BaseEntityRepository.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/BaseEntityRepository.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 package org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa;
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.AbstractJpaTenantAwareBaseEntity;
@@ -40,4 +41,18 @@ public interface BaseEntityRepository<T extends AbstractJpaTenantAwareBaseEntity
      */
     Optional<T> findById(I id);
 
+    /**
+     * Overrides
+     * {@link org.springframework.data.repository.CrudRepository#saveAll(Iterable)}
+     * to return a list of created entities instead of an instance of
+     * {@link Iterable} to be able to work with it directly in further code
+     * processing instead of converting the {@link Iterable}.
+     *
+     * @param entities
+     *            to persist in the database
+     * @return the created entities
+     */
+    @Override
+    @Transactional
+    <S extends T> List<S> saveAll(Iterable<S> entities);
 }
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/JpaTargetManagement.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/JpaTargetManagement.java
index 35dd03ba0..9d1881e93 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/JpaTargetManagement.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/JpaTargetManagement.java
@@ -748,7 +748,9 @@ public class JpaTargetManagement implements TargetManagement {
     @Retryable(include = {
             ConcurrencyFailureException.class }, maxAttempts = Constants.TX_RT_MAX, backoff = @Backoff(delay = Constants.TX_RT_DELAY))
     public List<Target> create(final Collection<TargetCreate> targets) {
-        return targets.stream().map(this::create).collect(Collectors.toList());
+        final List<JpaTarget> targetList = targets.stream().map(JpaTargetCreate.class::cast).map(JpaTargetCreate::build)
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        return Collections.unmodifiableList(targetRepository.saveAll(targetList));
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/TargetRepository.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/TargetRepository.java
index 59d7501a5..c0d21ec38 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/TargetRepository.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/TargetRepository.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.JpaDistributionSet;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.JpaTarget;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.specifications.TargetSpecifications;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.Target;
-import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.TargetType;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.TargetUpdateStatus;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.TenantAwareBaseEntity;
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Page;
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/specifications/TargetSpecifications.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/specifications/TargetSpecifications.java
index 9e6397fc5..ff988638b 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/specifications/TargetSpecifications.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/specifications/TargetSpecifications.java
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ public final class TargetSpecifications {
         return (targetRoot, query, cb) -> {
 
             final Predicate predicate = targetRoot.get(JpaTarget_.controllerId).in(controllerIDs);
-            targetRoot.fetch(JpaTarget_.assignedDistributionSet);
+            targetRoot.fetch(JpaTarget_.assignedDistributionSet, JoinType.LEFT);
             return predicate;
         };
     }
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-test/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/test/util/TestdataFactory.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-test/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/test/util/TestdataFactory.java
index 87f5a5ecb..052ed5536 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-test/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/test/util/TestdataFactory.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-test/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/test/util/TestdataFactory.java
@@ -880,7 +880,7 @@ public class TestdataFactory {
             targets.add(entityFactory.target().create().controllerId(DEFAULT_CONTROLLER_ID + i));
         }
 
-        return targetManagement.create(targets);
+        return createTargets(targets);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -904,7 +904,7 @@ public class TestdataFactory {
                     .targetType(targetType.getId()));
         }
 
-        return targetManagement.create(targets);
+        return createTargets(targets);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ public class TestdataFactory {
             targets.add(entityFactory.target().create().controllerId(targetId));
         }
 
-        return targetManagement.create(targets);
+        return createTargets(targets);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -987,11 +987,19 @@ public class TestdataFactory {
     public List<Target> createTargets(final int numberOfTargets, final String controllerIdPrefix,
             final String descriptionPrefix) {
 
-        return targetManagement.create(IntStream.range(0, numberOfTargets)
+        final List<TargetCreate> targets = IntStream.range(0, numberOfTargets)
                 .mapToObj(i -> entityFactory.target().create()
                         .controllerId(String.format("%s-%05d", controllerIdPrefix, i))
                         .description(descriptionPrefix + i))
-                .collect(Collectors.toList()));
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        return createTargets(targets);
+    }
+
+    private List<Target> createTargets(final Collection<TargetCreate> targetCreates) {
+        // init new instance of array list since the TargetManagement#create will
+        // provide a unmodifiable list
+        final List<Target> createdTargets = targetManagement.create(targetCreates);
+        return new ArrayList<>(createdTargets);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1010,11 +1018,12 @@ public class TestdataFactory {
     public List<Target> createTargets(final int numberOfTargets, final String controllerIdPrefix,
             final String descriptionPrefix, final Long lastTargetQuery) {
 
-        return targetManagement.create(IntStream.range(0, numberOfTargets)
+        final List<TargetCreate> targets = IntStream.range(0, numberOfTargets)
                 .mapToObj(i -> entityFactory.target().create()
                         .controllerId(String.format("%s-%05d", controllerIdPrefix, i))
                         .description(descriptionPrefix + i).lastTargetQuery(lastTargetQuery))
-                .collect(Collectors.toList()));
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        return createTargets(targets);
     }
 
     /**