Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 814,296 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 22,621 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.37% of Targa Resources worth $120,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,235,927,000 after acquiring an additional 633,589 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the second quarter worth $72,345,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 239.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 557,832 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 13.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,303,522 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $296,647,000 after buying an additional 271,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 75.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 604,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $89,413,000 after buying an additional 259,776 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total transaction of $23,329,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,181,399.10. This trade represents a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TRGP. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.43.

Targa Resources Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:TRGP opened at $176.79 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $38.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $183.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.37. Targa Resources Corp. has a 12-month low of $81.03 and a 12-month high of $209.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.25%.

About Targa Resources

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.