State Street Corp Cuts Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

State Street Corp lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,348,136 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 295,725 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 0.07% of Targa Resources worth $2,123,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Targa Resources in the third quarter worth $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the second quarter worth about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 2,220.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP stock opened at $198.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $81.03 and a 1 year high of $209.87. The company has a market cap of $43.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $177.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $149.27.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Argus raised Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $176.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Targa Resources news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This trade represents a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares in the company, valued at $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212. Company insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Profile

Targa Resources Corp., together with its subsidiary, Targa Resources Partners LP, owns, operates, acquires, and develops a portfolio of complementary domestic midstream infrastructure assets in North America. It operates in two segments, Gathering and Processing, and Logistics and Transportation. The company is involved in gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, and selling natural gas; storing, fractionating, treating, transporting, and selling natural gas liquids (NGL) and NGL products, including services to liquefied petroleum gas exporters; and gathering, storing, terminaling, purchasing, and selling crude oil.