Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,502 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 368 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 65.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 25,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,791,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Targa Resources by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 28,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,070,000 after purchasing an additional 13,167 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 191.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,268 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 5,431 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth $271,000. Finally, Braun Stacey Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter worth $11,042,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on TRGP shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $171.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $207.00.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $186.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $40.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $103.04 and a 1 year high of $218.51.

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

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. This represents a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total value of $429,809.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,899 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,957.74. This trade represents a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288 over the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.