Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Hits New 52-Week High at $117.66

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $117.66 and last traded at $117.61, with a volume of 507002 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $116.90.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $109.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.55.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.91. The stock has a market cap of $26.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84 and a beta of 2.21.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.26). Targa Resources had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 5.20%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.50 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Targa Resources Corp. will post 5.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Targa Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Targa Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.50%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total value of $244,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,012,769.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.66, for a total transaction of $244,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 33,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.67, for a total transaction of $3,262,666.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 38,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,754,434.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,966 shares of company stock worth $7,987,215 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRGP. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Targa Resources by 4.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,408 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Targa Resources by 16.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,791,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,003,000 after purchasing an additional 524,794 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in Targa Resources by 364.0% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 88,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,615,000 after purchasing an additional 69,690 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in Targa Resources by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 57,500 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,995,000 after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Targa Resources by 32.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,001 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 4,447 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

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.