AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$33.75.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$34.00 price objective on AltaGas and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. CIBC lifted their price objective on AltaGas from C$34.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. TD Securities lifted their price objective 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. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, National Bankshares lifted their price objective on AltaGas from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total transaction of C$361,564.00. In other AltaGas news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$29.18, for a total value of C$1,167,200.00. Also, Director Jeremy Jason Weatherhead sold 12,215 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$29.60, for a total value of C$361,564.00. Insiders sold a total of 68,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,002,672 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

AltaGas Stock Performance

Shares of TSE ALA opened at C$29.94 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of C$8.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$29.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$27.96. AltaGas has a 52-week low of C$22.57 and a 52-week high of C$30.08.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.75. AltaGas had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 5.18%. The business had revenue of C$3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$4.11 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AltaGas will post 2.1549815 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.298 dividend. This is a boost from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.65%.

About AltaGas

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.