Alps Advisors Inc. Sells 11,581 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Alps Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 132,323 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,581 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $24,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,382,289 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,755,169,000 after buying an additional 422,075 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,620,253 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,867,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,078,497,000 after purchasing an additional 45,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $735,758,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Targa Resources by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,290,099 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $607,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,246 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TRGP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $242.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $285.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $268.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $327.00 to $331.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.21.

Insider Activity at Targa Resources

In other news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total value of $2,713,687.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 66,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,019,292.32. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of TRGP opened at $269.31 on Friday. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.14 and a 52 week high of $280.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $254.88 and a 200-day moving average of $222.52.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by ($0.27). Targa Resources had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 71.00%. The firm had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Targa Resources’s dividend 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.