Magnetar Financial LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Magnetar Financial LLC lessened its position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,637 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,423 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $1,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 231.7% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 71,119 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $12,695,000 after purchasing an additional 49,680 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 80,104 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $14,299,000 after purchasing an additional 11,738 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 10,354 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 65,912 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,765,000 after buying an additional 17,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Targa Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $5,079,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Targa Resources Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $197.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $199.77 and a 200 day moving average of $182.87. Targa Resources Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $110.09 and a fifty-two week high of $218.51.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.46). Targa Resources had a return on equity of 28.67% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Targa Resources news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,206,024.70. This trade represents a 29.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of Targa Resources 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 sale, the director now owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,957.74. The trade was a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.