Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Shares Acquired by Private Trust Co. NA

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 437.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,344 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 12,588 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Targa Resources by 528.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 5,332 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the third quarter worth $362,000. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the third quarter worth $977,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 14.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 7,066 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In other news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total value of $5,709,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,793,393.07. The trade was a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 185,760 shares of company stock worth $30,026,712. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on TRGP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.50.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TRGP opened at $201.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.92 billion, a PE ratio of 36.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.24. Targa Resources Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $81.03 and a fifty-two week high of $209.87. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 54.25%.

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.