Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,209 Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,209 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Buckley Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 0.7% in the third quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,925 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 9.8% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 934 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 4.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 478 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total value of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total value of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This represents a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on TRGP. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $218.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $171.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $189.21.

Targa Resources Stock Down 1.1 %

TRGP stock opened at $209.10 on Monday. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $84.00 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The company has a market cap of $45.60 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 2.30.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.25%.

Targa Resources Company 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.