Advisors Asset Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 19.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,187 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,456 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TRGP. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 51.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 690 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 301.5% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 819 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,738,721 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $194,720,000 after acquiring an additional 360,675 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in Targa Resources by 7.3% during the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 54.3% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 7,574 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $176.50.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In related news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total value of $5,709,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This trade represents a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total value of $621,812.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This trade represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 185,760 shares of company stock valued at $30,026,712 in the last ninety days. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Targa Resources Stock Down 3.0 %

Targa Resources stock opened at $201.10 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $170.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $144.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market cap of $43.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.24. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $81.03 and a 52 week high of $209.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.25%.

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.