Employees Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 11,419 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,383,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $717,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 83.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 462,659 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $82,584,000 after acquiring an additional 210,943 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $740,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 717,585 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $128,075,000 after purchasing an additional 119,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRGP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Targa Resources Stock Down 11.1 %

NYSE TRGP opened at $160.64 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $110.09 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $197.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.74.

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

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In other news, 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 transaction of $429,809.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,957.74. The trade was a 43.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,206,024.70. This trade represents a 29.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.