Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Stock Gets Price Target Increase from Scotiabank

Key Points

• Scotiabank raised its Targa Resources price target to $325 from $319 and maintained a “sector outperform” rating, implying 16.12% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: two analysts rate the stock a Strong Buy and 22 rate it Buy, with an average price target of $326.21.
• Targa beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $3.04 versus a $2.74 estimate and revenue of $5.60 billion versus $4.77 billion expected.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by analysts at Scotiabank from $319.00 to $325.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "sector outperform" rating on the pipeline company's stock. Scotiabank's price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.12% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings raised Targa Resources from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $284.00 to $294.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $335.00 price target on Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $325.00 to $338.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $326.21.

Targa Resources Stock Up 2.3%

TRGP traded up $6.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $279.89. 234,597 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,304,201. The stock has a market cap of $60.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.76. Targa Resources has a twelve month low of $166.18 and a twelve month high of $316.60. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $289.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.01, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 69.26%. Equities analysts expect that Targa Resources will post 11.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Targa Resources

In other news, Director S Davis sold 2,400 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.67, for a total value of $719,208.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,195.43. This trade represents a 61.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul Chung sold 1,816 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.11, for a total value of $537,735.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 44,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,028,840. The trade was a 3.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,216 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,634. 1.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Targa Resources

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 1.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,832,687 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,586,077,000 after acquiring an additional 291,114 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 4.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,226,166 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,814,604,000 after purchasing an additional 626,885 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 3,159.2% during the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 4,254,731 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,150,096,000 after buying an additional 4,124,184 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 21.7% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,025,248 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $811,190,000 after buying an additional 539,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 28.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,151,993 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $790,299,000 after buying an additional 688,598 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Targa Resources Company Profile

Targa Resources Corp. is a midstream energy company that gathers, processes, transports and stores natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs), and provides services for crude oil. Its infrastructure connects oil and gas producers with pipelines, processing facilities, fractionators, storage sites and domestic and international markets.

The company's services include natural gas gathering, compression and processing; NGL transportation and fractionation; and crude oil gathering and terminaling.

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