Analysts Set Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) Target Price at $213.50

Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $213.50.

Several research firms have commented on TRGP. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Targa Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Targa Resources from $213.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $213.00 price target on Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $185.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, insider Gerald R. Shrader sold 2,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.21, for a total transaction of $498,327.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 29,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,356,748.81. The trade was a 8.51% decrease in their position. 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 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.21, for a total value of $3,444,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 22,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,812,557.19. This represents a 47.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Targa Resources by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,382,289 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,755,169,000 after acquiring an additional 422,075 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Targa Resources by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,643,139 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,291,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,620,253 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,856,899 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,022,222,000 after purchasing an additional 95,611 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the second quarter valued at about $708,366,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 9.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,360,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $395,447,000 after buying an additional 212,887 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP stock opened at $211.59 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.58. Targa Resources has a 52 week low of $144.14 and a 52 week high of $211.87. The stock has a market cap of $45.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.91, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.22 by ($0.02). Targa Resources had a net margin of 9.35% and a return on equity of 51.87%. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.70 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.19%.

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.