Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) Stock

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $190.00 to $204.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the pipeline company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 18.24% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Argus raised Targa Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Targa Resources from $190.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $155.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Targa Resources from $182.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, US Capital Advisors lowered shares of Targa Resources from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Targa Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.43.

Targa Resources Stock Performance

TRGP stock opened at $172.53 on Wednesday. Targa Resources has a 52 week low of $81.03 and a 52 week high of $209.87. 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 stock has a market cap of $37.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.95.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The pipeline company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 3,260 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.74, for a total transaction of $621,812.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 35,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,703,175.82. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider D. Scott Pryor sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.33, for a total value of $5,709,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,793,393.07. The trade was a 26.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 183,260 shares of company stock worth $29,661,212 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Targa Resources by 4.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,106,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,235,927,000 after purchasing an additional 633,589 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Targa Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $72,345,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Targa Resources by 239.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 791,095 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $101,877,000 after purchasing an additional 557,832 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Targa Resources by 13.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,303,522 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $296,647,000 after buying an additional 271,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 259,776 shares during the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.