AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from C$52.00 to C$54.00. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AltaGas traded as high as C$49.34 and last traded at C$49.31, with a volume of 48784 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$48.67.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets increased their price objective on AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$50.11.

AltaGas Price Performance

The company has a market cap of C$15.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$46.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$43.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 118.25, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.334 dividend. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio is 50.81%.

About AltaGas

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.