Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.50.

A number of research firms have commented on TRGP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus raised Targa Resources to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares in the company, valued at $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total transaction of $23,329,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 110,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,181,399.10. This represents a 57.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212. Company insiders own 1.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. DT Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 2,220.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 232 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:TRGP traded down $3.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $194.34. 1,497,233 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,570,280. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $178.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.80. Targa Resources has a fifty-two week low of $81.03 and a fifty-two week high of $209.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 2.28.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources's payout ratio is currently 54.25%.

About Targa Resources

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.