AGF Management Ltd. Purchases Shares of 7,616 Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,616 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,359,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,235,927,000 after acquiring an additional 633,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,717,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $843,680,000 after acquiring an additional 97,583 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,841,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $353,469,000 after acquiring an additional 318,261 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,464,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $261,344,000 after acquiring an additional 38,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Targa Resources by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,331,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $197,076,000 after acquiring an additional 14,287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Price Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $190.13 on Friday. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $104.89 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The firm has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.09. 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 (NYSE:TRGP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.46). Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.48 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 2,899 shares in the company, valued at $568,957.74. This trade represents a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. This represents a 6.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on TRGP. 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 research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $171.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.43.

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.