Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Makes New Investment in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 415 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $393,335,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at $150,372,000. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 568.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 970,373 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $173,212,000 after purchasing an additional 825,267 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,235,927,000 after purchasing an additional 633,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Targa Resources by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,841,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $353,469,000 after purchasing an additional 318,261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on TRGP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Targa Resources Price Performance

NYSE TRGP opened at $197.69 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $199.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.33. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $110.09 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In related news, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total transaction of $5,750,856.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 227,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,731,100.98. The trade was a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total value of $429,809.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,957.74. The trade was a 43.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. Company insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Profile

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.