AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Sets New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$40.22 and last traded at C$40.13, with a volume of 71402 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$39.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ALA shares. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AltaGas currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$39.56.

AltaGas Stock Performance

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 price of C$37.27 and a 200 day moving average price of C$35.09. The firm has a market capitalization of C$11.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. This is a boost from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. AltaGas's payout ratio is presently 68.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AltaGas

In other news, Director Peter James Ledig sold 13,361 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$40.04, for a total transaction of C$534,974.44. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 92,000 shares of the company's 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 value of C$3,605,480.00. Insiders have sold 398,414 shares of company stock valued at $15,302,227 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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.