Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Argus

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Argus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Targa Resources from $147.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Targa Resources from $132.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $123.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $128.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.54.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of TRGP opened at $149.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $32.81 billion, a PE ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $137.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.41. Targa Resources has a twelve month low of $77.97 and a twelve month high of $152.42.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The pipeline company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 23.98%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Targa Resources will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total value of $124,896.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 238,591 shares in the company, valued at $32,531,882.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.35, for a total value of $124,896.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 238,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,531,882.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 2,500 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.20, for a total value of $365,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 174,451 shares in the company, valued at $25,504,736.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 45,534 shares of company stock worth $5,989,390. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 9,442,728 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $820,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,554,989 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Targa Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $187,123,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 231.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,378,046 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $119,712,000 after acquiring an additional 962,073 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $72,345,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Targa Resources by 239.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 557,832 shares during the last quarter. 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.