Brokerages Set AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) Price Target at C$41.33

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$41.33.

ALA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Veritas raised shares of AltaGas to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. National Bankshares upped their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$41.00 to C$44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. CIBC upped their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$42.00 to C$43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

AltaGas Stock Performance

Shares of ALA traded down C$0.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$38.07. 182,646 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 888,967. AltaGas has a twelve month low of C$29.67 and a twelve month high of C$40.98. The company has a market cap of C$11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$38.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$35.98.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 7th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. AltaGas had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 6.36%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AltaGas will post 2.3006093 earnings per share for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 92,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$39.19, for a total transaction of C$3,605,480.00. Also, Senior Officer Corine Renae Knight Bushfield sold 144,064 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$38.00, for a total transaction of C$5,474,432.00. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 400,214 shares of company stock worth $15,372,463. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About AltaGas

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.