AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Rating Lowered to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Free Report) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$37.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of C$36.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ALA. CIBC increased their price objective on AltaGas from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on AltaGas from C$36.00 to C$38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on AltaGas from C$35.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$38.00.

AltaGas Stock Down 4.3 %

TSE:ALA traded down C$1.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching C$34.08. 952,944 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 893,318. AltaGas has a 1 year low of C$24.67 and a 1 year high of C$35.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.50. The business's 50-day moving average price is C$33.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$31.74. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.12 by C$0.02. The company had revenue of C$2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.54 billion. AltaGas had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 5.78%. Analysts predict that AltaGas will post 2.3006093 earnings per share for the current year.

AltaGas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.298 per share. This represents a $1.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. AltaGas's payout ratio is 82.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$35.32, for a total value of C$105,960.00. In related news, Director Aaron Bishop sold 19,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.58, for a total transaction of C$665,555.60. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$35.32, for a total transaction of C$105,960.00. Insiders sold a total of 33,320 shares of company stock worth $1,125,051 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AltaGas Company Profile

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.