AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from C$54.00 to C$57.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. AltaGas traded as high as C$52.77 and last traded at C$52.77, with a volume of 113663 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$52.20.

ALA has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets increased their target price on AltaGas from C$54.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their target price on AltaGas from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$53.25.

AltaGas Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.95. The stock has a market cap of C$16.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$48.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$44.25.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$3.97 billion during the quarter. AltaGas had a return on equity of 5.92% and a net margin of 4.02%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.334 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. AltaGas’s payout ratio is presently 77.99%.

AltaGas Company Profile

AltaGas Ltd owns and operates a diversified basket of energy infrastructure businesses. Business is conducted through four segments: Midstream, power, utilities and corporate. Utility business owns and operates rate-regulated natural gas distribution assets across North America. Midstream business subsequent to the sale of non-core midstream assets in Canada and also engaged in the natural gas liquid processing and extraction, transportation, and storage. Natural gas is sold and purchased for both commercial and industrial users.