Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,712 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $3,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,026 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 4.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 22.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on TRGP. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $218.00 price objective for the company. US Capital Advisors cut shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One 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 company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total transaction of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,206,024.70. The trade was a 29.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total value of $429,809.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,957.74. This represents a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Targa Resources Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE TRGP opened at $195.51 on Friday. Targa Resources Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $96.64 and a fifty-two week high of $218.51. The company has a market cap of $42.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $197.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.65.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 28.67% and a net margin of 7.81%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

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.