UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Stock Price

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its price objective decreased by analysts at UBS Group from $259.00 to $228.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 37.80% from the stock’s previous close.

TRGP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $204.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. US Capital Advisors upgraded Targa Resources from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Targa Resources from $227.00 to $197.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Targa Resources from $218.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Targa Resources from $226.00 to $218.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $201.64.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:TRGP opened at $165.46 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $177.28 and a 200 day moving average of $188.03. The company has a market capitalization of $35.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.22. Targa Resources has a 1-year low of $113.65 and a 1-year high of $218.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.04 by ($1.13). The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.01 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 28.67%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Matthew J. Meloy sold 48,837 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.08, for a total transaction of $9,527,121.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,555,510.24. This trade represents a 6.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jennifer R. Kneale sold 29,887 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.42, for a total value of $5,750,856.54. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 227,269 shares in the company, valued at $43,731,100.98. This trade represents a 11.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 115,914 shares of company stock valued at $22,613,288. Insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,584,275 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,529,820,000 after buying an additional 423,667 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 valued at $2,764,673,000 after buying an additional 962,631 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,930,473 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,056,187,000 after buying an additional 212,986 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,565,960 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $915,338,000 after buying an additional 139,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 64.0% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,614,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $724,560,000 after buying an additional 1,410,747 shares in the last quarter. 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.