Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Grows Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,429 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 2,069 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $5,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 18,423 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,693,000 after purchasing an additional 5,327 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 157.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,931 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,697 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Targa Resources by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $787,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Targa Resources by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 31,881 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,550,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TRGP. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $228.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Targa Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Targa Resources from $236.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $249.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total value of $2,713,687.92. Following the sale, the director owned 66,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,019,292.32. This trade represents a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,311,246.96. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 115,531 shares of company stock valued at $27,405,821 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Trading Up 3.1%

Targa Resources stock opened at $263.12 on Thursday. Targa Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $144.14 and a one year high of $263.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $243.75 and its 200 day moving average is $207.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.68 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 71.00% and a net margin of 12.87%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is currently 50.56%.

About Targa Resources

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.