AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$55.12 and last traded at C$54.99, with a volume of 253508 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$53.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AltaGas from C$54.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on AltaGas from C$52.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets boosted their price target on AltaGas from C$54.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$54.25.

AltaGas Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$50.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$45.79. The stock has a market cap of C$17.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.48, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.95.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.334 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. AltaGas’s payout ratio is currently 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.