AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$53.25.

A number of brokerages recently commented on ALA. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$50.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$54.00 to C$57.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$51.00 to C$52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Securities upped their price target 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. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of AltaGas from C$54.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

AltaGas Stock Down 0.1%

AltaGas stock opened at C$50.77 on Friday. AltaGas has a twelve month low of C$37.08 and a twelve month high of C$53.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$48.47 and a 200-day moving average price of C$44.44. The company has a market capitalization of C$15.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.96, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.95.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported C$1.33 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$3.97 billion for the quarter. AltaGas had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 5.92%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AltaGas will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.334 per share. This represents a $1.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.99%.

About AltaGas

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.