Scotiabank Raises AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Price Target to C$35.00

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Scotiabank from C$33.00 to C$35.00 in a report released on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

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

AltaGas Price Performance

ALA stock traded down C$0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$30.36. 636,696 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 783,171. AltaGas has a 52-week low of C$22.57 and a 52-week high of C$30.55. The company has a market capitalization of C$8.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.43, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.22. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of C$29.47 and a 200-day moving average price of C$28.14.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of C$0.75. AltaGas had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 8.90%. The firm had revenue of C$3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$4.11 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that AltaGas will post 2.1549815 earnings per share for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.298 per share. This is a boost from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AltaGas news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.18, for a total transaction of C$1,167,200.00. In related news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total transaction of C$361,564.00. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was 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 worth $2,002,672 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AltaGas Company Profile

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.