Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target Raised to $224.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its price target upped by Stifel Nicolaus from $190.00 to $224.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

TRGP has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America began coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $182.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Targa Resources from $173.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Argus upgraded Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.50.

Targa Resources Trading Down 0.4 %

TRGP stock opened at $202.79 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market cap of $44.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.24. Targa Resources has a 52-week low of $81.03 and a 52-week high of $205.20.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released 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. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Targa Resources will post 6.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is presently 54.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $17,181,399.10. This represents a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,760 shares of company stock worth $30,026,712 over the last 90 days. 1.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 8,447 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Targa Resources by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,058 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 0.9% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,717,487 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $843,680,000 after acquiring an additional 97,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Targa Resources by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,167 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

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.