Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Stake Cut by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,097,805 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 104,217 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $374,453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 54.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 196,172 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $35,017,000 after buying an additional 69,266 shares during the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,243,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 981.8% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,144,109 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $204,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,350 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Targa Resources by 165.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 64,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,544,000 after purchasing an additional 40,326 shares during the period. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth $317,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.64.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $174.48 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $188.84 and a 200-day moving average of $187.59. The firm has a market cap of $37.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.75. 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 twelve month low of $110.09 and a twelve month high of $218.51.

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

Targa Resources Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total transaction of $9,527,121.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares in the company, valued at $141,555,510.24. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 227,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,731,100.98. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources 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.