Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 11,738 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $14,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $150,372,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 4.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,235,927,000 after buying an additional 633,589 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,841,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $353,469,000 after buying an additional 318,261 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Targa Resources by 75.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 604,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $89,413,000 after purchasing an additional 259,776 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Targa Resources by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 890,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $158,957,000 after purchasing an additional 254,286 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Targa Resources

In related news, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total transaction of $429,809.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Stock Down 1.1 %

TRGP stock opened at $197.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $110.09 and a 52 week high of $218.51.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank decreased 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 report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

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.