Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Director Charles Crisp Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) Director Charles Crisp sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $870,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 62,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,079,007.16. This trade represents a 4.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TRGP opened at $294.38 on Thursday. Targa Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.14 and a fifty-two week high of $307.94. The company has a market cap of $63.12 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.01, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.34.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $3.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 69.26%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Targa Resources, Inc. will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is currently 47.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Seaport Research Partners restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Targa Resources from $249.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $297.18.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Targa Resources by 37,275.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 93,258,824 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $25,006,421,000 after purchasing an additional 93,009,305 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Targa Resources by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,832,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,586,077,000 after purchasing an additional 291,114 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Targa Resources by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,668,233 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,337,289,000 after purchasing an additional 162,878 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Targa Resources by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,867,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,078,497,000 after purchasing an additional 45,495 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $735,758,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Targa Resources News

Here are the key news stories impacting Targa Resources this week:

• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan reaffirmed its Buy rating on Targa Resources, maintaining a constructive view of the company’s growth outlook. Its recent price target of $315 remains above the stock’s recent trading level. J.P. Morgan Buy-rating article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain supportive. Targa’s second-quarter adjusted EPS of $3.54 exceeded the $2.83 consensus estimate, while midstream industry results benefited from strong throughput, margins and demand for natural gas and NGL exports. Targa has also expanded long-term ExxonMobil-linked Permian agreements and announced new processing and pipeline projects. Midstream earnings outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s leadership plan adds experienced midstream executive Brent Secrest as President of Logistics and Transportation and promotes Benjamin Branstetter to CFO. Targa said the changes are intended to support long-term growth, while retiring CFO William Byers will remain an adviser through year-end to aid continuity. Targa leadership announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning was mixed, with 546 investors adding shares and 490 reducing holdings in the latest quarter. Analyst opinion remains favorable overall, but the median price target of $275 is below recent trading levels, suggesting valuation is a consideration.
• Negative Sentiment: Several directors have recently sold shares, including Charles R. Crisp’s $870,690 sale and Waters S. Iv Davis’s $719,208 sale. The transactions do not necessarily indicate a change in business outlook, but the absence of reported insider purchases may weigh on sentiment. Targa insider trading report
• Negative Sentiment: A sharp decline in crude prices recently pressured energy stocks broadly. Investors may also remain cautious about the CFO transition and Targa’s substantial debt-to-equity ratio of approximately 5.0.

About Targa Resources

Targa Resources Corporation (NYSE: TRGP) is a U.S.-focused midstream energy company that provides gathering, processing, transportation, storage and marketing services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and condensate. Its operations span the midstream value chain, including gas gathering systems that collect production from wells, processing plants that separate and recover NGLs and other hydrocarbons, fractionation and purification facilities that prepare NGLs for market, and pipeline and terminal assets that move and store products for producers, refiners and other customers.

The company operates a network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities that serve producers and consumers across major U.S.