Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $217.34 and last traded at $217.24, with a volume of 2239000 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $215.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TRGP shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $171.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Scotiabank began coverage on Targa Resources in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $218.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $182.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $185.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.21.

Targa Resources Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $46.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.43.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.24 billion. Targa Resources had a return on equity of 27.59% and a net margin of 7.65%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Targa Resources Corp. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Targa Resources news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total value of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 35,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at $15,793,393.07. The trade was a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,235,927,000 after acquiring an additional 633,589 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Targa Resources by 75.4% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 604,112 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $89,413,000 after purchasing an additional 259,776 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 599.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 287,950 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $42,619,000 after buying an additional 246,762 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 14,163.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 204,254 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,232,000 after buying an additional 202,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Targa Resources by 1,904.8% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 199,958 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,596,000 after buying an additional 189,984 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.