AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$39.39 and last traded at C$39.33, with a volume of 53470 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$38.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. CIBC increased their price target on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$39.11.

AltaGas Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$35.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$34.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 7th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. AltaGas had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 6.36%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.315 per share. This is a boost from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Donald Mark Jenkins sold 12,352 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.90, for a total value of C$418,732.80. Also, Director Derek Watson Evans purchased 19,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$38.98 per share, with a total value of C$749,936.22. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 305,405 shares of company stock valued at $11,580,506. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.