The Goldman Sachs Group Raises Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target to $163.00

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $147.00 to $163.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the pipeline company's stock.

TRGP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $128.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a strong-buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $124.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $141.77.

Targa Resources Trading Down 0.0 %

TRGP stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $152.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,729,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,632,765. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 2.26. Targa Resources has a 52-week low of $77.97 and a 52-week high of $154.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 23.98%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Targa Resources will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Targa Resources's payout ratio is 61.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total transaction of $124,896.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 238,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,531,882.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Robert Muraro sold 9,900 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.31, for a total transaction of $1,290,069.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 186,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,361,584.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total transaction of $124,896.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 238,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,531,882.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,534 shares of company stock worth $4,788,590. Company insiders own 1.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blackstone Inc. increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 60.4% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 9,442,728 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $820,290,000 after acquiring an additional 3,554,989 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth $187,123,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 231.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,378,046 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $119,712,000 after acquiring an additional 962,073 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Targa Resources in the 2nd quarter worth $72,345,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 239.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $101,877,000 after acquiring an additional 557,832 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is 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.