AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$49.89.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ALA. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$49.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$47.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th.

AltaGas Stock Performance

Shares of ALA opened at C$48.12 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$44.10 and a 200 day moving average price of C$42.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 118.25. The company has a market capitalization of C$14.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.49. AltaGas has a 52-week low of C$35.33 and a 52-week high of C$48.83.

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

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.334 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.90%.

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.