Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 3,482 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Targa Resources, cutting ownership by 34.1%, and now holds 6,739 shares valued at approximately $1.35 million.
• Targa Resources recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.00, substantially higher than its previous $0.12, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.4%.
• Analysts have expressed positive outlooks on Targa Resources, with recent upgrades and a consensus target price of $208.86 reflecting a "Moderate Buy" rating.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 34.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,739 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 3,482 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $1,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 25.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,466 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $494,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 48.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,535 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $508,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the first quarter worth about $544,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 29.9% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 3,758 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $753,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 5.8% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,038 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on TRGP. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $205.00 price target (up previously from $198.00) on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $259.00 to $228.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Targa Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $205.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.86.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of TRGP stock traded up $1.15 on Friday, hitting $166.39. 545,288 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,812,052. The firm has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.20. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.30 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $166.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.92. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 43.35%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Targa Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.58%.

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.