Empirical Finance LLC Grows Position in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,226 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TRGP. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Targa Resources by 981.8% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,144,109 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $204,223,000 after buying an additional 1,038,350 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 22,699.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,377 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $186,112,000 after purchasing an additional 924,305 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,955,316 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $349,024,000 after purchasing an additional 353,165 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 383.0% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 376,353 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $67,179,000 after purchasing an additional 298,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 281.8% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 374,677 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $66,880,000 after purchasing an additional 276,539 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TRGP shares. Mizuho set a $212.00 target price on Targa Resources and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Targa Resources from $259.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Targa Resources from $227.00 to $197.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, TD Securities started coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $209.86.

Targa Resources Stock Up 0.0%

TRGP stock opened at $165.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.94 billion, a PE ratio of 30.51, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.07. Targa Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.56 and a twelve month high of $218.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($1.13). The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.01 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 30.48%. On average, equities analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is presently 73.66%.

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.