Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 116.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,236 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,395 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.07% of Targa Resources worth $28,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $2,235,927,000 after purchasing an additional 633,589 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $72,345,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 75.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 604,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $89,413,000 after acquiring an additional 259,776 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Targa Resources by 599.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 287,950 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $42,619,000 after acquiring an additional 246,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Targa Resources by 14,163.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 204,254 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,232,000 after acquiring an additional 202,822 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. US Capital Advisors lowered shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $189.21.

Targa Resources Trading Up 3.4 %

Targa Resources stock opened at $212.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.34 billion, a PE ratio of 38.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.91. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $81.03 and a 52 week high of $212.98.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total value of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This represents a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

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.