AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Reaches New 52-Week High at $29.99

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$29.99 and last traded at C$29.93, with a volume of 89689 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$29.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities upped their price target on AltaGas from C$32.00 to C$34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$34.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$34.00 price target on shares of AltaGas and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. National Bankshares increased their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$33.75.

AltaGas Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 125.64. The firm has a market capitalization of C$8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$29.01 and its 200-day moving average is C$27.84.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.75. AltaGas had a net margin of 5.18% and a return on equity of 8.90%. The company had revenue of C$3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$4.11 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.1549815 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.298 dividend. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.65%.

Insider Activity

In other AltaGas news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.18, for a total transaction of C$1,167,200.00. In other news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total value of C$361,564.00. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.18, for a total value of C$1,167,200.00. Insiders sold a total of 68,239 shares of company stock worth $2,002,672 over the last quarter. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AltaGas Company Profile

AltaGas Ltd. operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates through Utilities and Midstream segments. The Utilities segment owns and operates franchised, cost-of-service, rate-regulated natural gas distribution and storage utilities in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the District of Columbia serving approximately 1.6 million customers.