Argus Initiates Coverage on Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP)

Argus started coverage on shares of Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $140.00 target price on the pipeline company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $111.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $129.46.

Targa Resources Price Performance

TRGP stock opened at $128.78 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $118.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $103.85. The company has a market capitalization of $28.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.21. Targa Resources has a 52-week low of $74.20 and a 52-week high of $130.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The pipeline company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.13). Targa Resources had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 24.41%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Targa Resources will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.13, for a total value of $2,262,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 136,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,396,766.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Robert Muraro sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.08, for a total transaction of $1,200,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 196,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,649,876.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.13, for a total transaction of $2,262,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 136,098 shares in the company, valued at $15,396,766.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,791 shares of company stock valued at $4,907,563. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Targa Resources by 15.1% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 21.5% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 62,744 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,927,000 after acquiring an additional 11,098 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 166.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,453 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $723,000 after acquiring an additional 4,035 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 215.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,151,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by 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.