Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target Raised to $244.00

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $244.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $171.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Targa Resources Trading Up 2.4 %

Targa Resources stock opened at $198.90 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources has a 52 week low of $108.65 and a 52 week high of $218.51. The company has a market capitalization of $43.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $199.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.41.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.46). Targa Resources had a return on equity of 28.67% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.48 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,628 shares in the company, valued at $141,555,510.24. This represents a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 82,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,206,024.70. The trade was a 29.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock worth $22,613,288. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,160,608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,848,169,000 after buying an additional 150,038 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,235,927,000 after purchasing an additional 633,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,930,473 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,056,187,000 after purchasing an additional 212,986 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $505,132,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,756,419 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $492,022,000 after purchasing an additional 53,853 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.