Aventail Capital Group LP Sells 201,078 Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Aventail Capital Group LP trimmed its stake in Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 201,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 201,078 shares during the period. Targa Resources comprises about 1.6% of Aventail Capital Group LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Aventail Capital Group LP owned about 0.09% of Targa Resources worth $33,689,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 5.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 143,904 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,110,000 after purchasing an additional 7,497 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 137.9% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 66,636 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,164,000 after buying an additional 38,626 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 260,760 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $43,688,000 after buying an additional 70,998 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 682,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $114,313,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 484,462 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $81,167,000 after buying an additional 22,969 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on TRGP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $242.00 target price on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Targa Resources from $200.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.93.

Targa Resources Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of TRGP opened at $240.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.84. Targa Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $144.14 and a one year high of $250.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $210.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.21, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The pipeline company reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.16. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 10.88%.The firm had revenue of $4.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 1,359 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.30, for a total value of $311,618.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 77,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,677,654.20. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 24,589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.34, for a total transaction of $5,934,309.26. Following the transaction, the insider owned 197,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,640,757.34. This trade represents a 11.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 104,929 shares of company stock valued at $24,692,134 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources 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.