AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from C$33.00 to C$35.00. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AltaGas traded as high as C$30.58 and last traded at C$30.40, with a volume of 236122 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$30.36.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ALA. National Bankshares raised their target price on AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$34.00 target price on shares of AltaGas and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$32.00 to C$34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$32.00 to C$34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of C$34.15.

Insider Activity

In other AltaGas news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total value of C$361,564.00. In other AltaGas news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total value of C$361,564.00. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.18, for a total transaction of C$1,167,200.00. Insiders sold a total of 68,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,672 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company's stock.

AltaGas Trading Down 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 125.64, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of C$8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$29.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$28.19.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of C$0.75. The firm had revenue of C$3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$4.11 billion. AltaGas had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 8.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.1549815 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.298 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. This is an increase from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AltaGas's payout ratio is currently 52.65%.

About AltaGas

AltaGas Ltd. operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates through Utilities and Midstream segments. The Utilities segment owns and operates franchised, cost-of-service, rate-regulated natural gas distribution and storage utilities in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia serving approximately 1.6 million customers.