Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Emera received a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from nine analysts, including six buys and three holds, with an average 12-month price target of C$76.67.
• Several brokerages recently raised their price targets, with BMO Capital Markets and Scotiabank setting the highest cited targets at C$80 and maintaining positive ratings.
• Emera reported quarterly EPS of C$0.69 on C$2.01 billion in revenue and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.7325 per share, equivalent to a 4.2% annualized yield.

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$76.67.

EMA has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Emera from C$76.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Emera from C$78.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Emera from C$75.25 to C$77.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Emera from C$73.00 to C$79.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their price target on shares of Emera from C$69.00 to C$75.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st.

Emera Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of TSE:EMA opened at C$70.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 153.87. The company's 50-day moving average price is C$74.12 and its 200 day moving average price is C$72.45. The company has a market cap of C$21.51 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57. Emera has a fifty-two week low of C$63.17 and a fifty-two week high of C$77.99.

Emera (TSE:EMA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported C$0.69 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$2.01 billion for the quarter. Emera had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 7.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Emera will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.7325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $2.93 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Emera's payout ratio is presently 92.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Emera news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total value of C$1,225,125.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This represents a 45.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Emera

Emera TSX/NYSE: EMA is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera's common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

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