Independent Advisor Alliance Trims Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Independent Advisor Alliance lowered its position in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 56.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,413 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $1,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 5.6% during the second quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 205,934 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $35,849,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Targa Resources by 260.2% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 128,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $22,526,000 after purchasing an additional 93,119 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Targa Resources by 137.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 66,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,164,000 after purchasing an additional 38,626 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its position in Targa Resources by 2.4% during the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 682,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $114,313,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 175,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,563,000 after buying an additional 26,318 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Gerald R. Shrader sold 2,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.21, for a total transaction of $498,327.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 29,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,356,748.81. This trade represents a 8.51% 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 20,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.21, for a total transaction of $3,444,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 22,139 shares in the company, valued at $3,812,557.19. This trade represents a 47.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TRGP shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $205.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $266.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $213.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Targa Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $213.50.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $203.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.91. Targa Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.14 and a twelve month high of $211.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.88.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.02). Targa Resources had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 51.87%. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.19%.

Targa Resources Profile

Targa Resources Corporation (NYSE: TRGP) is a U.S.-focused midstream energy company that provides gathering, processing, transportation, storage and marketing services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and condensate. Its operations span the midstream value chain, including gas gathering systems that collect production from wells, processing plants that separate and recover NGLs and other hydrocarbons, fractionation and purification facilities that prepare NGLs for market, and pipeline and terminal assets that move and store products for producers, refiners and other customers.

The company operates a network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities that serve producers and consumers across major U.S.