Mount Lucas Management LP Cuts Position in Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)

Mount Lucas Management LP lowered its stake in shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) by 59.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 11,197 shares during the period. Mount Lucas Management LP’s holdings in Targa Resources were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 0.8% in 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 during the period. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in Targa Resources in the second quarter valued at $2,323,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 215.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after buying an additional 21,200 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 27,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 1st quarter worth about $1,151,000. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on TRGP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America initiated coverage on Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $182.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $169.79.

Targa Resources Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of TRGP stock opened at $196.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Targa Resources Corp. has a 1-year low of $81.03 and a 1-year high of $197.14. The firm has a market cap of $42.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.24.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.23 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company 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 (DPR) is presently 54.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Targa Resources news, 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 transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at $15,793,393.07. The trade was a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.20, for a total transaction of $365,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 174,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,504,736.20. This represents a 1.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 185,760 shares of company stock worth $30,026,712 over the last three months. 1.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.