AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from C$52.00 to C$54.00. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AltaGas traded as high as C$49.34 and last traded at C$49.31, with a volume of 48784 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$48.67.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ALA. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$50.11.

AltaGas Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$46.01 and its 200 day moving average price is C$43.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 118.25. The stock has a market cap of C$15.34 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.34.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.77 EPS for the quarter. AltaGas had a net margin of 6.14% and a return on equity of 8.74%. The firm had revenue of C$3.29 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.334 dividend. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. AltaGas’s payout ratio is presently 50.81%.

AltaGas Company Profile

AltaGas Ltd owns and operates a diversified basket of energy infrastructure businesses. Business is conducted through four segments: Midstream, power, utilities and corporate. Utility business owns and operates rate-regulated natural gas distribution assets across North America. Midstream business subsequent to the sale of non-core midstream assets in Canada and also engaged in the natural gas liquid processing and extraction, transportation, and storage. Natural gas is sold and purchased for both commercial and industrial users.