Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $275.60 and last traded at $274.9990, with a volume of 999676 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $271.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRGP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $264.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $327.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $236.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Seaport Research Partners reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Targa Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.36.

Targa Resources Stock Up 1.1%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $245.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.64. The stock has a market cap of $59.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.75.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.27). Targa Resources had a net margin of 12.87% and a return on equity of 71.00%. The company had revenue of $4.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.68 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This is a boost from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is presently 50.56%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 17,500 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.92, for a total transaction of $4,006,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,311,246.96. The trade was a 35.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Patrick J. Mcdonie sold 31,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.36, for a total transaction of $7,548,696.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 305,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,043,815.68. This trade represents a 9.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 115,531 shares of company stock valued at $27,405,821. Insiders own 1.37% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TRGP. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Targa Resources by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 18,423 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,693,000 after buying an additional 5,327 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Targa Resources by 157.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,931 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $788,000 after buying an additional 2,404 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Targa Resources by 6.3% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,697 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Targa Resources by 13.1% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $787,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Targa Resources by 11.0% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 31,881 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,550,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

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.