Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,738 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $14,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 394.6% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Aspect Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Aspect Partners LLC now owns 220 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 269 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Targa Resources stock opened at $197.25 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $199.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. Targa Resources Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $110.09 and a fifty-two week high of $218.51. The company has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32.

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

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Activity at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total transaction of $5,750,856.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 227,269 shares in the company, valued at $43,731,100.98. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288 over the last ninety days. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.00.

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.