Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,288 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,493 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,288 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $2,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 8.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,050 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Targa Resources by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,491 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 8,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 2nd quarter worth $283,000. Finally, MN Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 38.3% during the 2nd quarter. MN Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,793 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of TRGP stock opened at $184.62 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $182.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.77. 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 $40.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.28. 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 (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid 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 1.62%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 54.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TRGP. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Argus upgraded Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $176.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,793,393.07. This trade represents a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 183,260 shares of company stock valued at $29,661,212. Insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

About Targa Resources

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.