Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) Raises Dividend to $0.75 Per Share

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 11th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.75 per share by the pipeline company on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This is a positive change from Targa Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Targa Resources has increased its dividend by an average of 15.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Targa Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 29.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Targa Resources to earn $6.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.4%.

Targa Resources Price Performance

TRGP opened at $114.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Targa Resources has a 1 year low of $67.36 and a 1 year high of $117.61. The firm has a market cap of $25.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25 and a beta of 2.21.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.50 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Targa Resources will post 5.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Julie H. Boushka sold 2,500 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 71,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,012,769.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Robert Muraro sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.31, for a total value of $973,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 219,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,354,776.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,966 shares of company stock worth $7,987,215 over the last three months. 1.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRGP. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Targa Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Targa Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on TRGP. Mizuho raised their price target on Targa Resources from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Targa Resources from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $109.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $104.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.70.

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.