diff --git a/ng-dev/release/publish/BUILD.bazel b/ng-dev/release/publish/BUILD.bazel
index c177cfb17..fd4d9d15a 100644
--- a/ng-dev/release/publish/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/ng-dev/release/publish/BUILD.bazel
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ ts_library(
     visibility = ["//ng-dev:__subpackages__"],
     deps = [
         "//ng-dev/commit-message",
+        "//ng-dev/pr/common/labels",
         "//ng-dev/pr/merge",
         "//ng-dev/release/build",
         "//ng-dev/release/config",
diff --git a/ng-dev/release/publish/actions.ts b/ng-dev/release/publish/actions.ts
index 6ff982397..d3077f1f0 100644
--- a/ng-dev/release/publish/actions.ts
+++ b/ng-dev/release/publish/actions.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ import {Prompt} from '../../utils/prompt.js';
 import {glob} from 'fast-glob';
 import {PnpmVersioning} from './pnpm-versioning.js';
 import {Commit} from '../../utils/git/octokit-types.js';
+import {updateRenovateConfigTargetLabels} from './actions/renovate-config-updates.js';
+import {targetLabels} from '../../pr/common/labels/target.js';
 
 /** Interface describing a Github repository. */
 export interface GithubRepo {
@@ -217,13 +219,27 @@ export abstract class ReleaseAction {
     }
 
     // Commit message for the release point.
-    const commitMessage = getCommitMessageForRelease(newVersion);
     const filesToCommit = [
       workspaceRelativePackageJsonPath,
       workspaceRelativeChangelogPath,
       ...this.getAspectLockFiles(),
     ];
 
+    if (newVersion.patch === 0 && !newVersion.prerelease) {
+      // Switch the renovate labels for `target: rc` to `target: patch`
+      const renovateConfigPath = await updateRenovateConfigTargetLabels(
+        this.projectDir,
+        targetLabels['TARGET_RC'].name,
+        targetLabels['TARGET_PATCH'].name,
+      );
+
+      if (renovateConfigPath) {
+        filesToCommit.push(renovateConfigPath);
+      }
+    }
+
+    const commitMessage = getCommitMessageForRelease(newVersion);
+
     // Create a release staging commit including changelog and version bump.
     await this.createCommit(commitMessage, filesToCommit);
 
diff --git a/ng-dev/release/publish/actions/renovate-config-updates.ts b/ng-dev/release/publish/actions/renovate-config-updates.ts
index 9ee6e28a2..7de2ad5ce 100644
--- a/ng-dev/release/publish/actions/renovate-config-updates.ts
+++ b/ng-dev/release/publish/actions/renovate-config-updates.ts
@@ -2,14 +2,16 @@ import {existsSync} from 'node:fs';
 import {green, Log} from '../../../utils/logging.js';
 import {join} from 'node:path';
 import {writeFile, readFile} from 'node:fs/promises';
+import {targetLabels} from '../../../pr/common/labels/target.js';
 
 /**
  * Updates the `renovate.json` configuration file to include a new base branch.
+ * It also updates specific target labels within the package rules.
  *
- * @param projectDir - The project directory path.
+ * @param projectDir - The path to the project directory.
  * @param newBranchName - The name of the new branch to add to the base branches list.
- * @returns A promise that resolves to an string containing the path to the modified `renovate.json` file,
- *          or null if config updating is disabled.
+ * @returns A promise that resolves to the path of the modified `renovate.json` file if updated,
+ * or `null` if the file was not found or the `baseBranches` array has an unexpected format.
  */
 export async function updateRenovateConfig(
   projectDir: string,
@@ -18,13 +20,13 @@ export async function updateRenovateConfig(
   const renovateConfigPath = join(projectDir, 'renovate.json');
   if (!existsSync(renovateConfigPath)) {
     Log.warn(`  ✘   Skipped updating Renovate config as it was not found.`);
-
     return null;
   }
 
   const config = await readFile(renovateConfigPath, 'utf-8');
   const configJson = JSON.parse(config) as Record<string, unknown>;
   const baseBranches = configJson.baseBranches;
+
   if (!Array.isArray(baseBranches) || baseBranches.length !== 2) {
     Log.warn(
       `  ✘   Skipped updating Renovate config: "baseBranches" must contain exactly 2 branches.`,
@@ -34,8 +36,93 @@ export async function updateRenovateConfig(
   }
 
   configJson.baseBranches = ['main', newBranchName];
+
+  updateRenovateTargetLabel(
+    configJson,
+    targetLabels['TARGET_PATCH'].name,
+    targetLabels['TARGET_RC'].name,
+  );
   await writeFile(renovateConfigPath, JSON.stringify(configJson, undefined, 2));
-  Log.info(green(`  ✓   Updated Renovate config.`));
 
+  Log.info(green(`  ✓   Updated Renovate config.`));
   return renovateConfigPath;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Updates a specific target label in the `renovate.json` configuration file.
+ * This function specifically targets and replaces one label with another within the `packageRules`.
+ *
+ * @param projectDir - The path to the project directory.
+ * @param fromLabel - The label name to be replaced.
+ * @param toLabel - The new label name to replace `fromLabel` with.
+ * @returns A promise that resolves to the path of the modified `renovate.json` file if updated,
+ * or `null` if the file was not found or the `baseBranches` array has an unexpected format.
+ */
+export async function updateRenovateConfigTargetLabels(
+  projectDir: string,
+  fromLabel: string,
+  toLabel: string,
+): Promise<string | null> {
+  const renovateConfigPath = join(projectDir, 'renovate.json');
+  if (!existsSync(renovateConfigPath)) {
+    Log.warn(`  ✘   Skipped updating Renovate config as it was not found.`);
+
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  const config = await readFile(renovateConfigPath, 'utf-8');
+  const configJson = JSON.parse(config) as Record<string, unknown>;
+
+  // Check baseBranches just in case, though this function's primary focus is labels
+  const baseBranches = configJson.baseBranches;
+  if (!Array.isArray(baseBranches) || baseBranches.length !== 2) {
+    Log.warn(
+      `  ✘   Skipped updating Renovate config: "baseBranches" must contain exactly 2 branches.`,
+    );
+
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  if (updateRenovateTargetLabel(configJson, fromLabel, toLabel)) {
+    await writeFile(renovateConfigPath, JSON.stringify(configJson, undefined, 2));
+    Log.info(green(`  ✓   Updated target label in Renovate config.`));
+
+    return renovateConfigPath;
+  } else {
+    Log.info(green(`  ✓   No changes to target labels in Renovate config.`));
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Updates a specific target label within the `packageRules` of a Renovate configuration.
+ *
+ * @param configJson - The parsed JSON object of the Renovate configuration.
+ * @param fromLabel - The label name to be replaced.
+ * @param toLabel - The new label name to replace `fromLabel` with.
+ * @returns `true` is the label has been updated, otherwise `false`.
+ */
+function updateRenovateTargetLabel(
+  configJson: Record<string, unknown>,
+  fromLabel: string,
+  toLabel: string,
+): boolean {
+  if (!Array.isArray(configJson.packageRules)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  let updated = false;
+  for (const rule of configJson.packageRules) {
+    if (!Array.isArray(rule.addLabels)) {
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    const idx = (rule.addLabels as string[]).findIndex((x) => x === fromLabel);
+    if (idx >= 0) {
+      rule.addLabels[idx] = toLabel;
+      updated = true;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return updated;
+}