Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 13,872 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 80,964 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,872 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $13,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of TRGP. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 143,904 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $24,110,000 after acquiring an additional 7,497 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Targa Resources by 137.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 66,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,164,000 after acquiring an additional 38,626 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP lifted its holdings in Targa Resources by 37.4% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 260,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $43,688,000 after purchasing an additional 70,998 shares during the last quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its holdings in Targa Resources by 2.4% during the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 682,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $114,313,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Targa Resources by 5.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 484,462 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $81,167,000 after purchasing an additional 22,969 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRGP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $266.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $241.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $200.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $226.00 target price on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $240.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 1,359 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.30, for a total transaction of $311,618.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 77,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,677,654.20. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.92, for a total value of $4,006,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,311,246.96. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,929 shares of company stock worth $24,692,134. Company insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Trading Up 0.8%

Targa Resources stock opened at $238.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $51.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.84. Targa Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.14 and a fifty-two week high of $250.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $209.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $182.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.21, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The pipeline company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.35 by $0.16. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 10.88%.The company had revenue of $4.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.57%.

Targa Resources Profile

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.