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

Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $202.93.

TRGP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on Targa Resources from $201.00 to $199.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $199.00 to $191.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $202.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $211.00 to $206.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Targa Resources from $227.00 to $197.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP opened at $159.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Targa Resources has a twelve month low of $112.27 and a twelve month high of $218.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $178.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.13.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by ($1.13). Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.01 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Targa Resources will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total value of $9,527,121.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.30, for a total value of $6,905,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,139 shares in the company, valued at $16,206,024.70. This represents a 29.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288 in the last three months. 1.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 578.9% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 129 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 5,400.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.