Norges Bank Takes $505.13 Million Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,829,873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,132,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TRGP. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 65.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 25,615 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Targa Resources by 85.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 28,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,070,000 after purchasing an additional 13,167 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Targa Resources by 47.5% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 28,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,277,000 after purchasing an additional 9,307 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 191.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,268 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 5,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Targa Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $271,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In related news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at $16,206,024.70. The trade was a 29.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total value of $5,750,856.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 227,269 shares in the company, valued at $43,731,100.98. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on TRGP shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Targa Resources from $208.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Targa Resources Stock Down 0.7 %

TRGP stock opened at $197.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12 month low of $110.09 and a 12 month high of $218.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.48 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Targa Resources Profile

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.