Royal Bank of Canada Sells 83,746 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Targa Resources by 18.8%, holding 362,563 shares valued at $72.68 million as of the latest quarter.
• Targa Resources reported a strong earnings per share (EPS) of $2.87, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.95, despite lower than expected revenues of $4.26 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.00, reflecting an increase from their previous dividend, with a 2.4% annualized yield.

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 362,563 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 83,746 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.17% of Targa Resources worth $72,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 578.9% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 129 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 5,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRGP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Targa Resources from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $192.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $205.00 price target (up from $198.00) on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Targa Resources to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.86.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of TRGP stock traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,230,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,298,952. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $166.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. Targa Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $142.11 and a one year high of $218.51. The firm has a market cap of $35.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.20.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.92. The business had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.82 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 43.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. On average, analysts forecast that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Targa Resources's payout ratio is presently 56.58%.

Targa Resources Profile

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.