UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Stock

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its price objective hoisted by UBS Group from $182.00 to $246.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.42% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $147.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $172.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Targa Resources in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $182.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded shares of Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $153.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $169.79.

Targa Resources Stock Up 1.6 %

TRGP stock traded up $3.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $194.59. 251,737 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,643,497. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.86. Targa Resources has a 12 month low of $81.03 and a 12 month high of $197.14. 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 company has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 2.24.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.17. Targa Resources had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 27.59%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 6.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Targa Resources

In related news, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total transaction of $5,709,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. This represents a 26.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Bob Perkins sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.53, for a total transaction of $23,329,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 110,470 shares in the company, valued at $17,181,399.10. The trade was a 57.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 185,760 shares of company stock valued at $30,026,712. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Targa Resources

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Targa Resources by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,015,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,025,521,000 after purchasing an additional 201,817 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in Targa Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,323,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Targa Resources by 215.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,478,000 after purchasing an additional 21,200 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Targa Resources by 6.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 444,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $49,783,000 after purchasing an additional 27,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Targa Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,151,000. 92.13% of the stock is currently 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.