Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target Raised to $327.00

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $298.00 to $327.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

TRGP has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $241.00 price target on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $218.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $226.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $228.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $242.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $256.71.

Targa Resources Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of TRGP stock opened at $245.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.21, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $232.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.52. Targa Resources has a fifty-two week low of $144.14 and a fifty-two week high of $253.87.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The pipeline company reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.16. Targa Resources had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 65.48%. The company had revenue of $4.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Targa Resources will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Charles R. Crisp sold 1,359 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.30, for a total transaction of $311,618.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 77,094 shares in the company, valued at $17,677,654.20. The trade was a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Patrick J. Mcdonie sold 31,537 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.36, for a total transaction of $7,548,696.32. Following the sale, the insider owned 305,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $73,043,815.68. This represents a 9.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 104,929 shares of company stock valued at $24,692,134 in the last three months. 1.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Targa Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Miller Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. acquired a new position in Targa Resources during the third quarter worth about $34,000. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Company Profile

Targa Resources Corporation (NYSE: TRGP) is a U.S.-focused midstream energy company that provides gathering, processing, transportation, storage and marketing services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and condensate. Its operations span the midstream value chain, including gas gathering systems that collect production from wells, processing plants that separate and recover NGLs and other hydrocarbons, fractionation and purification facilities that prepare NGLs for market, and pipeline and terminal assets that move and store products for producers, refiners and other customers.

The company operates a network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities that serve producers and consumers across major U.S.