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

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from C$37.00 to C$40.00. The company traded as high as C$34.83 and last traded at C$34.79, with a volume of 66200 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$34.27.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on ALA. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on AltaGas from C$34.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. National Bankshares boosted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$36.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$34.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. ATB Capital boosted their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$36.00 to C$38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, AltaGas currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.40.

Insider Activity

In other AltaGas news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.82, for a total transaction of C$101,460.00. In related news, Senior Officer Vernon Dai-Chung Yu acquired 16,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$30.71 per share, for a total transaction of C$506,715.00. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.82, for a total value of C$101,460.00. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 20,500 shares of company stock valued at $627,795 and sold 66,970 shares valued at $2,125,503. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

AltaGas Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of C$10.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.50, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$32.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$30.67.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.12 by C$0.02. The firm had revenue of C$2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$2.54 billion. AltaGas had a return on equity of 5.78% and a net margin of 3.58%. As a group, analysts forecast that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.1087355 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.298 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.07%.

About AltaGas

AltaGas Ltd. operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates through Utilities and Midstream segments. The Utilities segment owns and operates franchised, cost-of-service, rate-regulated natural gas distribution and storage utilities in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia serving approximately 1.6 million customers.