The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Decreases Stock Holdings in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its Targa Resources stake by 9.1%, selling 29,922 shares and retaining 300,348 shares valued at approximately $75.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.13% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Targa Resources, with 17 Buy ratings and two Holds. The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $288.
• Targa reported quarterly EPS of $2.21, below the $2.48 consensus estimate, and revenue of $4.09 billion versus expectations of $4.68 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share, equivalent to a 1.9% annualized yield.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 300,348 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 29,922 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.14% of Targa Resources worth $75,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KCM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Targa Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $390,000. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Targa Resources by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 93,591 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $23,466,000 after buying an additional 4,114 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 131,131 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $32,879,000 after buying an additional 27,205 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 106,738 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $26,762,000 after buying an additional 26,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 10.9% in the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 21,510 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRGP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $268.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, May 8th. US Capital Advisors cut shares of Targa Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $333.00 target price on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, June 18th. They set a "buy" rating and a $314.00 target price for the company. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $264.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.82 billion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.71. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.14 and a 52-week high of $291.04.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 71.00% and a net margin of 12.87%. Analysts forecast that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Targa Resources's payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total value of $2,713,687.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 66,492 shares in the company, valued at $17,019,292.32. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Targa Resources

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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