Wells Fargo & Company Raises Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target to $204.00

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $190.00 to $204.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the pipeline company's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on TRGP. Barclays raised their target price on Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $177.14.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

Targa Resources stock traded down $9.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.94. 3,150,142 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,662,767. Targa Resources has a fifty-two week low of $81.03 and a fifty-two week high of $209.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.49 billion, a PE ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $153.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Targa Resources will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Targa Resources's payout ratio is 54.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 110,470 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,181,399.10. This trade represents a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at $15,793,393.07. This represents a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212. 1.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TRGP. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Targa Resources by 65.1% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 25,615 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,791,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,323,000. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,042,000. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 12.7% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 25,569 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,784,000 after buying an additional 2,890 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Targa Resources by 73.3% during the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 11,984 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,774,000 after buying an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.