Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$76.67.

EMA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Emera from C$76.00 to C$84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD upped their price target on Emera from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Emera from C$70.00 to C$74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Emera from C$74.00 to C$71.00 in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Emera from C$78.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st.

Emera Trading Down 0.6%

TSE EMA opened at C$69.20 on Thursday. Emera has a 52 week low of C$63.17 and a 52 week high of C$77.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$73.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$72.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 153.87. The stock has a market capitalization of C$21.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$2.01 billion during the quarter. Emera had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 7.51%. As a group, research analysts expect that Emera will post 3.1991627 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Emera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.7325 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $2.93 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Emera’s payout ratio is 92.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Emera news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total value of C$1,225,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This represents a 45.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Emera Company Profile

Emera (TSX/NYSE: EMA) is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera’s common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.