Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in Targa Resources, Inc. by 1.2%, now owning approximately 832,099 shares valued at $166,811,000 as of its latest SEC filing.
• Targa Resources announced a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, raising its annualized dividend from $0.12 to $4.00, representing a yield of 2.4%.
• Equities analysts have a consensus price target of $209.21 for Targa Resources, with thirteen analysts recommending a buy rating for the stock.

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 832,099 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 10,320 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.38% of Targa Resources worth $166,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,410,747 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $196,351,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 22,699.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,377 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $186,112,000 after purchasing an additional 924,305 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,708 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $551,033,000 after acquiring an additional 834,666 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 1.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 423,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on TRGP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $189.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho set a $212.00 price objective on Targa Resources and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Securities began coverage on Targa Resources in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Targa Resources from $227.00 to $197.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Targa Resources to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.21.

Targa Resources Stock Up 0.5%

TRGP stock traded up $0.8190 on Friday, reaching $162.9190. 1,000,320 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,862,109. Targa Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $142.11 and a one year high of $218.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.85.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last released 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. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 43.35% and a net margin of 8.99%.The company had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Research 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. 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.