Moors & Cabot Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,310 Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,310 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,372,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Targa Resources by 4.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,235,927,000 after acquiring an additional 633,589 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Targa Resources by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,841,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $353,469,000 after acquiring an additional 318,261 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Targa Resources by 75.4% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 604,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $89,413,000 after acquiring an additional 259,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Targa Resources by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 890,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $158,957,000 after acquiring an additional 254,286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on TRGP. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $206.43.

Targa Resources Price Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $190.13 on Monday. Targa Resources Corp. has a one year low of $106.04 and a one year high of $218.51. The stock has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $199.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $181.60.

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

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total transaction of $429,809.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,899 shares in the company, valued at $568,957.74. This trade represents a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total transaction of $9,527,121.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,555,510.24. This trade represents a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Targa Resources Company Profile

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.