Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $209.50.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on TRGP. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $205.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up previously from $198.00) on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $214.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Targa Resources

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,960,214 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,867,314,000 after purchasing an additional 375,939 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,790,955 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,764,673,000 after purchasing an additional 962,631 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Targa Resources by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,565,960 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $915,338,000 after purchasing an additional 139,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth $708,366,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TRGP opened at $154.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.12. Targa Resources has a 12 month low of $144.14 and a 12 month high of $218.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.92. Targa Resources had a net margin of 8.99% and a return on equity of 43.35%. The business had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. Analysts expect that Targa Resources will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.58%.

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.