Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $172.00 to $199.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Targa Resources traded as high as $192.89 and last traded at $192.89, with a volume of 549 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $192.28.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $182.00 price target for the company. Argus raised shares of Targa Resources to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $159.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total value of $23,329,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 110,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,181,399.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Targa Resources news, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total value of $23,329,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 110,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,181,399.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.20, for a total value of $365,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 174,451 shares in the company, valued at $25,504,736.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Targa Resources

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TRGP. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the second quarter valued at about $72,345,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 239.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 557,832 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 26.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,738,721 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $194,720,000 after purchasing an additional 360,675 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 13.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,303,522 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $296,647,000 after purchasing an additional 271,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 2.7% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 9,695,457 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,085,794,000 after purchasing an additional 252,729 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Trading Up 1.4 %

The business's 50 day moving average is $158.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.88, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 2.24.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.19 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is 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.