Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires Shares of 140,250 Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 140,250 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,035,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Targa Resources by 394.6% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Aspect Partners LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in Targa Resources by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 269 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRGP has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, US Capital Advisors cut shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at $16,206,024.70. This represents a 29.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total transaction of $5,750,856.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 227,269 shares in the company, valued at $43,731,100.98. The trade was a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Targa Resources Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $199.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12-month low of $109.13 and a 12-month high of $218.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.53.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.46). Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.48 billion. Analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 52.26%.

Targa Resources Company 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.