Palo Duro Investment Partners LP Increases Position in Targa Resources, Inc. $TRGP

Key Points

• Palo Duro Investment Partners LP increased its stake in Targa Resources by 24.8%, owning 13,586 shares valued at approximately $2.72 million by the end of the last quarter.
• Targa Resources reported earnings of $2.87 EPS, exceeding estimates, and has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share.
• Analysts have set a consensus price target of $208.86 for Targa Resources, with ratings ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Hold."

Palo Duro Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Free Report) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,586 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,701 shares during the quarter. Targa Resources comprises about 0.8% of Palo Duro Investment Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Palo Duro Investment Partners LP's holdings in Targa Resources were worth $2,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Targa Resources by 64.0% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 3,614,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $724,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410,747 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the 1st quarter worth $196,351,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 7.5% in 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 22,699.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 928,377 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $186,112,000 after purchasing an additional 924,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 43.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,708 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $551,033,000 after purchasing an additional 834,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on TRGP. Barclays lifted their price objective on Targa Resources from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $205.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "hold" rating and a $192.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $189.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $205.00 target price (up previously from $198.00) on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.86.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP traded up $1.74 during trading on Thursday, hitting $165.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 953,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,819,510. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. Targa Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $144.30 and a one year high of $218.51. The firm has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.20. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $166.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.02.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.92. The firm had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 43.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Targa Resources's payout ratio is presently 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.