Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 460,440 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 26,080 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.21% of Targa Resources worth $115,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 34,805 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,421,000 after buying an additional 12,640 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 9.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,643,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,291,012,000 after buying an additional 1,620,253 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 6.9% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 375,619 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $62,960,000 after acquiring an additional 24,219 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Targa Resources by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 820,310 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $151,331,000 after acquiring an additional 53,413 shares during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG grew its stake in Targa Resources by 164.1% in the 4th quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 33,641 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,245,000 after acquiring an additional 20,905 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $236.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $314.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Targa Resources from $242.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Targa Resources from $249.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Targa Resources news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total transaction of $2,713,687.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 66,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,019,292.32. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:TRGP traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $273.24. 744,006 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,284,316. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $58.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.71. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $144.14 and a 52-week high of $280.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $265.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $235.18.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.68 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 71.00%. As a group, analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This is an increase from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 50.56%.

About Targa Resources

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.