Comerica Bank Lowers Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its stake in Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) by 38.4% in Q4, selling 19,288 shares and leaving it with 30,990 shares valued at about $5.72 million.
• Significant insider selling occurred recently: President Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,509 shares at ~$230.12 and D. Scott Pryor sold 17,500 shares at ~$228.92, with insiders selling 104,929 shares (~$24.7M) in the past 90 days and owning 1.37% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly positive—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $259.93 price target and several firms raising targets (Morgan Stanley to $327)—and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.25 (annualized $5.00, yield ~1.9%).

Comerica Bank decreased its position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 38.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,990 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 19,288 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Targa Resources were worth $5,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TRGP. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 18,423 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 5,327 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 157.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,931 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 6.3% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,697 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 13.1% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $787,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 11.0% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 31,881 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,550,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In related news, President Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,509 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.12, for a total transaction of $6,790,611.08. Following the transaction, the president owned 235,260 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,138,031.20. This represents a 11.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 17,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.92, for a total transaction of $4,006,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,938 shares in the company, valued at $7,311,246.96. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 104,929 shares of company stock valued at $24,692,134. 1.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $246.00 to $249.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $241.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $213.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $298.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.93.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of TRGP opened at $260.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.21, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $55.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.81. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $240.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.32. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.14 and a 1 year high of $260.49.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The pipeline company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $4.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 65.48%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.32 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This is a positive change from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Targa Resources's payout ratio is currently 58.21%.

Targa Resources Profile

Targa Resources Corporation NYSE: TRGP is a U.S.-focused midstream energy company that provides gathering, processing, transportation, storage and marketing services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and condensate. Its operations span the midstream value chain, including gas gathering systems that collect production from wells, processing plants that separate and recover NGLs and other hydrocarbons, fractionation and purification facilities that prepare NGLs for market, and pipeline and terminal assets that move and store products for producers, refiners and other customers.

The company operates a network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities that serve producers and consumers across major U.S.

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