AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$54.75 and last traded at C$54.69, with a volume of 320560 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$53.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ALA. ATB Cormark Capital Markets lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of C$53.25.

AltaGas Stock Down 1.0%

The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$50.36 and a 200-day moving average price of C$45.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.95, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market capitalization of C$16.72 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.38.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a $0.334 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.