Scotiabank Raises Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Price Target to $128.00

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its price target lifted by Scotiabank from $112.00 to $128.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the pipeline company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on TRGP. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $116.82.

Targa Resources Price Performance

TRGP stock opened at $114.34 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.01. The stock has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 2.21. Targa Resources has a 1 year low of $67.36 and a 1 year high of $117.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.50 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 5.20%. Research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 5.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total transaction of $244,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total value of $244,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 33,405 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.67, for a total transaction of $3,262,666.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 38,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,754,434.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,966 shares of company stock worth $7,987,215 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,791,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,003,000 after buying an additional 524,794 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 364.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 88,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,615,000 after acquiring an additional 69,690 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its position in Targa Resources by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 57,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,995,000 after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Targa Resources by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,001 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 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.