Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Key Points

• Institutional investors remain heavily involved in Targa Resources, with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimming its stake by 6.9% in Q1, while 92.13% of the stock is still owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• Analysts are generally constructive on TRGP, with 17 Buy ratings and 2 Hold ratings; the stock’s consensus price target is $281.93, and JPMorgan recently raised its target to $315.
• Recent company updates were mixed: Targa missed quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, but it also boosted its dividend to $1.25 per share from $1.00, implying a 1.8% yield.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 6.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 340,948 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 25,441 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned 0.16% of Targa Resources worth $85,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TRGP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 9.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,643,139 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,291,012,000 after buying an additional 1,620,253 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,668,233 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,337,289,000 after acquiring an additional 162,878 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,867,345 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,078,497,000 after purchasing an additional 45,495 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Targa Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $735,758,000. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 3,389,006 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $625,272,000 after purchasing an additional 572,562 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on TRGP shares. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Targa Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays raised their price target on Targa Resources from $262.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $291.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $281.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total value of $2,713,687.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 66,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,019,292.32. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.37% of the company's stock.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of TRGP stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $273.24. The stock had a trading volume of 744,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,284,316. Targa Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.14 and a fifty-two week high of $280.00. The firm has a market cap of $58.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $265.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.18.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.27). The firm had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.68 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 71.00% and a net margin of 12.87%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This is a positive change from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Targa Resources's payout ratio is presently 50.56%.

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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