AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - What's Next?

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report)'s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$35.82 and traded as high as C$37.91. AltaGas shares last traded at C$37.51, with a volume of 708,480 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALA. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on AltaGas from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. CIBC lifted their price target on AltaGas from C$42.00 to C$43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Veritas upgraded AltaGas to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on AltaGas from C$42.00 to C$45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$41.33.

AltaGas Trading Up 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of C$11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$38.67 and a 200-day moving average price of C$35.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26.

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 return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.04%. As a group, research analysts expect that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.315 dividend. This is a boost 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 3.32%. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AltaGas news, Senior Officer Donald Mark Jenkins sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$39.02, for a total transaction of C$70,236.00. Also, Senior Officer Corine Renae Knight Bushfield sold 144,064 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 400,214 shares of company stock valued at $15,372,463. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company 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.