Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC has increased its stake in Targa Resources by 22.9%, owning a total of 51,991 shares valued at approximately $10.4 million.
• Recently, Targa Resources announced a significant dividend increase from $0.12 to $1.00 per share, representing an annualized payout of $4.00 and a yield of 2.4%.
• According to recent research, several analysts maintain a positive outlook with a majority rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy" and setting an average price target of approximately $209.21.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 22.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,991 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 9,673 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC's holdings in Targa Resources were worth $10,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,584,275 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,529,820,000 after purchasing an additional 423,667 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 3.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,565,960 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $915,338,000 after buying an additional 139,780 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 64.0% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,614,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $724,560,000 after buying an additional 1,410,747 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,756,419 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $492,022,000 after buying an additional 53,853 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 43.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,708 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $551,033,000 after acquiring an additional 834,666 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho set a $212.00 price target on Targa Resources and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Securities initiated coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Cfra Research raised Targa Resources to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $209.21.

Targa Resources Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Targa Resources stock traded down $0.8920 during trading on Thursday, reaching $161.9780. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,564,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,866,302. The company has a market cap of $34.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The firm's 50-day moving average is $168.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.13. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.11 and a 52-week high of $218.51.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Targa Resources had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 43.35%. The business had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. 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.