Emera (TSE:EMA) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$76.46 and last traded at C$76.29, with a volume of 150141 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$75.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EMA. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Emera from C$74.50 to C$75.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Desjardins upped their target price on shares of Emera from C$69.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Emera from C$69.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays set a C$72.00 price target on shares of Emera and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, TD raised their price objective on shares of Emera from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$74.39.

Emera Stock Down 0.1%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$73.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$71.03. The firm has a market cap of C$23.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 168.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$2.81 billion during the quarter. Emera had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 13.20%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.7325 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $2.93 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Emera’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.14%.

Insider Activity at Emera

In related news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of Emera stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total transaction of C$1,225,125.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This trade represents a 45.65% decrease in their position. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Emera Company Profile

Emera (TSX/NYSE: EMA) is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera’s common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.