Marshall Wace LLP Purchases 40,326 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 165.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,675 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,326 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $11,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TRGP. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Targa Resources by 19.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,034,545 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,124,000 after purchasing an additional 168,602 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,447 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 7.1% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Equity Management now owns 3,135 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 3.3% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 3,131 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TRGP. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on Targa Resources from $211.00 to $206.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.64.

Insider Activity

In other Targa Resources news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Targa Resources Stock Down 5.7 %

NYSE TRGP opened at $164.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $35.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.75. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1-year low of $110.09 and a 1-year high of $218.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $188.12 and a 200-day moving average of $187.86.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.46). Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.69%.

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.