Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 20,501 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 81.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,818 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,501 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Targa Resources were worth $6,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Targa Resources in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Targa Resources by 2,220.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 232 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 478 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on TRGP. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 report on Wednesday. Argus upgraded Targa Resources to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $182.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $176.50.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $207.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,267,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,659,815. 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. The stock has a market cap of $45.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.24. The company's fifty day moving average is $169.37 and its 200 day moving average is $143.93.

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

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 35,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This trade represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,760 shares of company stock worth $30,026,712 in the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.