Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Stake in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,486 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 665 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,015,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,025,521,000 after acquiring an additional 201,817 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,323,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 215.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,478,000 after acquiring an additional 21,200 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 444,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $49,783,000 after acquiring an additional 27,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Targa Resources during the 1st quarter worth about $1,151,000. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $196.04 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.24. 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 50 day moving average price of $163.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $140.95. Targa Resources Corp. has a 52 week low of $81.03 and a 52 week high of $197.14.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.23 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on TRGP. Argus upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $175.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Targa Resources news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This trade represents a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 185,760 shares of company stock valued at $30,026,712. 1.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Targa Resources 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.