AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$49.34 and last traded at C$49.31, with a volume of 48784 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$48.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ALA shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AltaGas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$49.89.

AltaGas Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$45.71 and its 200-day moving average is C$43.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 118.25, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.77 EPS for the quarter. AltaGas had a net margin of 6.14% and a return on equity of 8.74%. The firm had revenue of C$3.29 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 earnings per share for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. AltaGas’s payout ratio is currently 50.81%.

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.