Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its position in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 49.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 266,676 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 257,660 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.12% of Targa Resources worth $47,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 73.4% during the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 13,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,458,000 after purchasing an additional 5,831 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth about $309,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 28,954 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,168,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 875,189 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $168,019,000 after acquiring an additional 30,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 45,047 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,041,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. The trade was a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total transaction of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,206,024.70. This trade represents a 29.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $211.00.

Targa Resources Price Performance

TRGP opened at $160.64 on Friday. Targa Resources Corp. has a twelve month low of $110.09 and a twelve month high of $218.51. The firm has a market cap of $35.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $197.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.26.

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

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 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.