Eventide Asset Management LLC Purchases 104,931 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 480,550 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 104,931 shares during the quarter. Targa Resources comprises 1.4% of Eventide Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $88,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the fourth quarter worth $735,758,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 9.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,643,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,291,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620,253 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,290,099 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $607,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,246 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the third quarter worth $121,426,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,382,289 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,755,169,000 after purchasing an additional 422,075 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Targa Resources news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 10,602 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.96, for a total transaction of $2,713,687.92. Following the transaction, the director owned 66,492 shares in the company, valued at $17,019,292.32. This represents a 13.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $327.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $242.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $249.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Targa Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.21.

Targa Resources Stock Up 1.1%

Targa Resources stock opened at $272.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $58.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64. Targa Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.14 and a twelve month high of $280.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $255.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $222.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.27). The company had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 71.00%. As a group, analysts expect that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This is a boost from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.56%.

About Targa Resources

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.