Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Trims Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,512 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,899 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $14,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $318,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Targa Resources by 8.8% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,952 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the third quarter valued at $329,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,408,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 41,852 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,195,000 after purchasing an additional 8,848 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TRGP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. 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, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of TRGP opened at $197.69 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $110.09 and a 1 year high of $218.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32.

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

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,957.74. The trade was a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total value of $5,750,856.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 227,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,731,100.98. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.