AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Reaches New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$39.39 and last traded at C$39.33, with a volume of 53470 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$38.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ALA. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AltaGas presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$39.11.

AltaGas Price Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average is C$36.24 and its 200-day moving average is C$34.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of C$11.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 7th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter. AltaGas had a return on equity of 6.36% and a net margin of 4.04%. Analysts predict that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.315 dividend. This is a positive change from AltaGas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. AltaGas's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Peter James Ledig sold 25,200 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$38.35, for a total transaction of C$966,420.00. Also, Senior Officer Donald Mark Jenkins sold 12,352 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.90, for a total transaction of C$418,732.80. Insiders have sold 410,766 shares of company stock worth $15,720,960 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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.