D. Scott Pryor Sells 35,000 Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Stock

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,206,024.70. This represents a 29.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRGP traded down $3.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $195.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,483,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,530,199. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $197.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.53. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1 year low of $96.64 and a 1 year high of $218.51. The company has a market cap of $42.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05.

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

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 5,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 394.6% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 183 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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. 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $205.43.

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.