Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Stock Position Lessened by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc reduced its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 27.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,407 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,389 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $948,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Targa Resources by 9.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 35,597 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,269,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,034,545 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $153,124,000 after buying an additional 168,602 shares in the last quarter. Geller Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 21.0% in the third quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 2,374 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Hamilton Capital LLC bought a new position in Targa Resources during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 25.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 94,411 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $13,974,000 after acquiring an additional 18,921 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of TRGP stock opened at $185.60 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $151.53. The company has a market capitalization of $40.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1-year low of $81.03 and a 1-year high of $209.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Targa Resources news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total value of $621,812.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total value of $23,329,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 110,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,181,399.10. This represents a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TRGP. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $176.50.

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.