Emera (TSE:EMA) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$76.45 and last traded at C$75.98, with a volume of 10526 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$76.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on EMA shares. TD raised their price target on Emera from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. National Bank Financial boosted their price objective on Emera from C$69.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays set a C$72.00 price objective on Emera and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Emera from C$74.50 to C$75.25 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Emera from C$73.00 to C$74.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$74.39.

Emera Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 168.83. The company has a market capitalization of C$23.20 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$72.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$70.43.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$2.81 billion for the quarter. Emera had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 13.20%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.7325 dividend. This represents a $2.93 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. Emera’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total transaction of C$1,225,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This represents a 45.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Emera

Emera (TSX/NYSE: EMA) is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera’s common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.