Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Shares Purchased by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 287.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,900 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $5,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,953,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 19,464 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after acquiring an additional 1,548 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $335,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 98,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,420,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 131.2% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 67,606 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,795,000 after acquiring an additional 38,369 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on TRGP shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $111.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $304,083.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,466,764. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,691 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $304,083.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 57,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,466,764. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.08, for a total transaction of $1,200,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 196,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,649,876.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,791 shares of company stock worth $4,907,563 in the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Targa Resources Stock Up 0.2 %

TRGP stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $128.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,430,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,523,420. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1-year low of $74.20 and a 1-year high of $130.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a market capitalization of $28.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 2.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $118.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.99.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The pipeline company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.13). Targa Resources had a return on equity of 24.41% and a net margin of 6.86%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is currently 61.73%.

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.