AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$39.67.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ALA shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. CIBC boosted their target price on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer Corine Renae Knight Bushfield sold 144,064 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$38.00, for a total value of C$5,474,432.00. Also, Director Peter James Ledig sold 25,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$38.35, for a total value of C$966,420.00. Insiders have sold a total of 398,414 shares of company stock valued at $15,302,227 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

AltaGas Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ALA stock traded down C$0.58 on Tuesday, reaching C$40.22. 972,397 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 900,013. AltaGas has a 1-year low of C$29.51 and a 1-year high of C$40.98. The stock has a market cap of C$11.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.31, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of C$38.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$35.43.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.315 dividend. This is an increase from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.98%.

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.