Patrick Mcdonie Sells 31,537 Shares of Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Stock

Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) insider Patrick Mcdonie sold 31,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.36, for a total transaction of $7,548,696.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 305,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,043,815.68. This trade represents a 9.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Targa Resources Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $238.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $204.36 and its 200 day moving average is $179.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.84. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.14 and a 1 year high of $250.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.21.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The pipeline company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $4.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 65.48%. 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. 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 46.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on TRGP shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Targa Resources from $207.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $213.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $226.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.79.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the second quarter worth $708,366,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Targa Resources by 9.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,643,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,291,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620,253 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,290,099 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $607,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,246 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $121,426,000. Finally, Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 3,389,006 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $625,272,000 after acquiring an additional 572,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Company 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.