AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Sets New 12-Month High at $29.99

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$29.99 and last traded at C$29.93, with a volume of 89689 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$29.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ALA shares. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$32.00 to C$34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. CIBC increased their price objective on AltaGas from C$34.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$34.00 target price on shares of AltaGas and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, National Bankshares increased their target price on AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, AltaGas has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$33.75.

AltaGas Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 125.64. The company has a market cap of C$8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$29.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$27.84.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.75. AltaGas had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of C$3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$4.11 billion. Analysts predict that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.1549815 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.298 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 16,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.58, for a total transaction of C$473,200.00. In related news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 16,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.58, for a total value of C$473,200.00. Insiders have sold 68,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,672 in the last 90 days. 0.57% of the stock is owned by 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.