Trexquant Investment LP Purchases 1,629 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $13,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Targa Resources by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,026 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,440 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 2,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRGP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Insider Activity at Targa Resources

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total transaction of $9,527,121.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. This trade represents a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total transaction of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,206,024.70. The trade was a 29.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $203.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $110.09 and a 1 year high of $218.51. The firm has a market cap of $44.31 billion, a PE ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.09.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 28.67% and a net margin of 7.81%. Analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

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.