Creative Planning Increases Stock Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,237 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,993 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $4,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 9,442,728 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $820,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,554,989 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Targa Resources by 231.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,378,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $119,712,000 after purchasing an additional 962,073 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $72,345,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 239.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 557,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Targa Resources by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,024,713 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $114,758,000 after purchasing an additional 428,276 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on TRGP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $123.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $116.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $134.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $141.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 1,213 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.02, for a total value of $160,140.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 52,257 shares in the company, valued at $6,898,969.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total value of $23,329,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,470 shares in the company, valued at $17,181,399.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 1,213 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.02, for a total value of $160,140.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 52,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,898,969.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 175,534 shares of company stock valued at $26,815,021 over the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $155.50 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.23. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $157.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 23.98% and a net margin of 6.60%. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. 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.