Banco Santander S.A. Sells 679 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Banco Santander S.A. decreased its holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,962 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 679 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,015,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,025,521,000 after purchasing an additional 201,817 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in Targa Resources by 2.7% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 9,695,457 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,085,794,000 after acquiring an additional 252,729 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $187,123,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,139,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,862,000 after purchasing an additional 115,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,858,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $161,479,000 after purchasing an additional 234,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $132.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Targa Resources from $147.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $124.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $128.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.54.

Targa Resources Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:TRGP traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $145.47. 145,032 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,605,557. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $147.08. The company has a market cap of $31.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $135.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.43.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 23.98%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is currently 61.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total value of $124,896.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 238,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,531,882.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total value of $124,896.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 238,591 shares in the company, valued at $32,531,882.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 9,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.31, for a total value of $1,290,069.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 186,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,361,584.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,034 shares of company stock worth $5,623,890. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

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.