Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $211.00.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $211.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Shares of Targa Resources stock opened at $197.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $43.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 2.32. Targa Resources has a one year low of $110.09 and a one year high of $218.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $199.77 and its 200-day moving average is $182.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $1.44 earnings per share 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. Equities analysts predict that Targa Resources will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.26, for a total value of $429,809.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,957.74. This represents a 43.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total transaction of $9,527,121.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141,555,510.24. This trade represents a 6.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288 over the last quarter. 1.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,026 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 19,440 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,470,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

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.