Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 7,047 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 505,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 7,047 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.23% of Targa Resources worth $43,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 104,219.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,241,143 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,855,224,000 after purchasing an additional 25,216,947 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 1.9% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,748,593 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,367,710,000 after buying an additional 348,951 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 5.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,319,024 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $713,107,000 after buying an additional 401,144 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Targa Resources by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,836,957 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,455,000 after acquiring an additional 986,283 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Targa Resources by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,802,014 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $513,349,000 after acquiring an additional 421,874 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Targa Resources Price Performance

TRGP opened at $112.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77 and a beta of 2.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $105.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.69. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $67.36 and a 1 year high of $117.61.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.50 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 5.20% and a return on equity of 18.64%. Research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on TRGP shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Targa Resources from $111.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $117.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total value of $970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 156,098 shares in the company, valued at $15,141,506. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total transaction of $244,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.00, for a total value of $970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 156,098 shares in the company, valued at $15,141,506. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 81,966 shares of company stock worth $7,987,215 in the last ninety days. 1.39% of the stock is 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.