United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,401 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Targa Resources by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,832,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,586,077,000 after acquiring an additional 291,114 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,668,233 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,337,289,000 after buying an additional 162,878 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,867,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,078,497,000 after acquiring an additional 45,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $735,758,000. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Targa Resources by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 3,389,006 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $625,272,000 after acquiring an additional 572,562 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on TRGP. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $324.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $312.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their target price on Targa Resources from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $249.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total transaction of $870,690.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 62,292 shares in the company, valued at $18,079,007.16. This represents a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.67, for a total transaction of $719,208.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,195.43. This represents a 61.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRGP opened at $288.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $275.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.11. Targa Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.14 and a twelve month high of $307.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.84 billion, a PE ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.72.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $3.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 69.26%. Equities analysts forecast that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a $1.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 47.80%.

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.