Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Targa Resources, Inc. has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from seventeen brokerages, with thirteen analysts issuing buy ratings and an average 1-year price target of $208.86.
• The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the last quarter, significantly beating the consensus estimate of $1.95, with total revenue of $4.26 billion.
• Targa Resources recently increased its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $4.00 and a yield of 2.5%.

Shares of Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $208.8571.

TRGP has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities initiated coverage on Targa Resources in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho cut their price target on Targa Resources from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $198.00) on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $178.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,960,214 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $4,867,314,000 after buying an additional 375,939 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,856,899 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,022,222,000 after buying an additional 95,611 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Targa Resources by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,565,960 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $915,338,000 after purchasing an additional 139,780 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter worth $708,366,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Targa Resources Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of TRGP opened at $162.46 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $166.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $34.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.21. Targa Resources has a fifty-two week low of $142.11 and a fifty-two week high of $218.51.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The pipeline company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.92. The company had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 43.35% and a net margin of 8.99%. As a group, analysts forecast that Targa Resources will post 8.15 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Targa Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Targa Resources's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.58%.

Targa Resources Company Profile

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.

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