Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Trims Stock Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 98.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,050 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 126,437 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $343,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 260.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 128,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,526,000 after acquiring an additional 93,119 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 17.6% during the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 175,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $30,563,000 after purchasing an additional 26,318 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its position in Targa Resources by 6.5% in the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 243,628 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,411,000 after purchasing an additional 14,883 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Targa Resources by 34.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,270,128 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $221,104,000 after purchasing an additional 323,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freemont Management S.A. increased its position in Targa Resources by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. Freemont Management S.A. now owns 26,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,596,000 after purchasing an additional 6,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gerald R. Shrader sold 2,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.21, for a total value of $498,327.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 29,561 shares in the company, valued at $5,356,748.81. This represents a 8.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 20,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.21, for a total value of $3,444,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 22,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,812,557.19. This represents a 47.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TRGP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Targa Resources from $189.00 to $188.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $228.00 target price on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.79.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Targa Resources stock opened at $184.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.87. Targa Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.14 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.91.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 51.87% and a net margin of 9.35%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.19%.

Targa Resources Company Profile

Targa Resources Corporation (NYSE: TRGP) is a U.S.-focused midstream energy company that provides gathering, processing, transportation, storage and marketing services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and condensate. Its operations span the midstream value chain, including gas gathering systems that collect production from wells, processing plants that separate and recover NGLs and other hydrocarbons, fractionation and purification facilities that prepare NGLs for market, and pipeline and terminal assets that move and store products for producers, refiners and other customers.

The company operates a network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities that serve producers and consumers across major U.S.