Empowered Funds LLC Lowers Stock Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 91.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,331 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 34,244 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Targa Resources were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Targa Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 2,220.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 232 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Targa Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the second quarter worth approximately $69,000. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TRGP. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $182.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays raised their target price on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $176.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total value of $5,709,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,793,393.07. This represents a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 185,760 shares of company stock worth $30,026,712. Insiders own 1.39% of the company's stock.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRGP traded down $6.25 during trading on Monday, reaching $201.06. 3,890,866 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,657,485. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $81.03 and a 52 week high of $209.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.84 billion, a PE ratio of 38.28, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.24. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $169.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.37.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.