Targa Resources Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:TRGP)

Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 4,358 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 521% compared to the typical volume of 702 put options.

Targa Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRGP traded down $0.10 on Monday, reaching $277.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 304,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,307,834. Targa Resources has a 52-week low of $144.14 and a 52-week high of $307.94. The company has a market cap of $59.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.54, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $282.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.01, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The pipeline company reported $3.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.71. The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. Targa Resources had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 69.26%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Targa Resources will post 11.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Targa Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Targa Resources’s payout ratio is presently 47.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on TRGP shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Targa Resources from $324.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Targa Resources from $257.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Targa Resources in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Targa Resources from $291.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Targa Resources from $312.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eighteen have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.24.

Insider Activity at Targa Resources

In other Targa Resources news, Director Paul W. Chung sold 1,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.11, for a total transaction of $537,735.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 44,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,028,840. This trade represents a 3.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Waters S. Iv Davis sold 2,400 shares of Targa Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.67, for a total transaction of $719,208.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,195.43. The trade was a 61.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,216 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,634. 1.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Targa Resources

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Targa Resources by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,832,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,586,077,000 after purchasing an additional 291,114 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Targa Resources by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,226,166 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,814,604,000 after purchasing an additional 626,885 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Targa Resources during the 4th quarter worth $735,758,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Targa Resources by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,290,099 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $607,023,000 after buying an additional 1,075,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Targa Resources by 28.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,151,993 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $790,299,000 after buying an additional 688,598 shares in the last quarter. 92.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Targa Resources

Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) is a midstream energy infrastructure company that gathers, processes, transports and fractionates natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations connect producers with downstream markets and include natural gas gathering and processing, NGL fractionation, storage, transportation and marketing, as well as crude oil gathering and logistics.

The company operates an integrated network of pipelines, processing plants, fractionation facilities, storage assets and export infrastructure across the United States.