Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Canadian Utilities (TSE:CU) Stock Price

Key Points

• Scotiabank raised its price target on Canadian Utilities to C$53.00 from C$50.00, while keeping a “sector perform” rating. The new target still implies a small downside from the stock’s recent close.
• The stock was up 0.3% in Tuesday trading at C$54.39, near its 52-week high of C$55.30. Trading volume was below average, and the shares have outperformed both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analysts remain cautious overall: six analysts rate the stock Hold, and the consensus target price is C$49.14. Recent earnings showed C$0.89 EPS on C$1.08 billion in revenue, with modest profitability metrics.

Canadian Utilities (TSE:CU - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by Scotiabank from C$50.00 to C$53.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a "sector perform" rating on the stock. Scotiabank's price target points to a potential downside of 2.56% from the company's previous close.

CU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Canadian Utilities from C$47.00 to C$51.00 in a research report on Monday, April 20th. TD boosted their price target on Canadian Utilities from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial increased their target price on Canadian Utilities from C$46.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Canadian Utilities from C$49.00 to C$50.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$49.14.

Canadian Utilities Stock Up 0.3%

CU stock traded up C$0.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching C$54.39. The company had a trading volume of 126,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,680. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 186.03, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$51.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$48.33. The company has a market capitalization of C$14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 543.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.53. Canadian Utilities has a fifty-two week low of C$37.13 and a fifty-two week high of C$55.30.

Canadian Utilities (TSE:CU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.89 EPS for the quarter. Canadian Utilities had a return on equity of 1.59% and a net margin of 2.90%.The business had revenue of C$1.08 billion for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Canadian Utilities will post 2.4063556 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Canadian Utilities

Canadian Utilities Ltd, a subsidiary of holding company Atco, offers gas and electricity services. The company's main divisions include electricity (generation, transmission, and distribution), pipelines & liquid (natural gas and water), and Retail Energy. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, the firm mainly operates in Canada and Australia, along with some operations in the United States and Mexico. Canadian Utilities launched a large venture called Atco Energy, which provides low-cost and sustainable energy solutions for Alberta.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.