AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

AltaGas Ltd. (TSE:ALA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$35.49 and last traded at C$35.49, with a volume of 77805 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$35.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. CIBC raised their price target on AltaGas from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, ATB Capital set a C$36.00 target price on AltaGas and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, AltaGas currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of C$37.90.

AltaGas Price Performance

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 company has a 50 day moving average price of C$33.79 and a 200 day moving average price of C$31.57. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.90, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.12 by C$0.02. AltaGas had a return on equity of 5.78% and a net margin of 3.58%. The company had revenue of C$2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.54 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that AltaGas Ltd. will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.298 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. AltaGas’s payout ratio is currently 82.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.82, for a total transaction of C$101,460.00. In other AltaGas news, Director Aaron Bishop sold 19,820 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.58, for a total value of C$665,555.60. Also, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 3,000 shares of AltaGas stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.82, for a total value of C$101,460.00. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,320 shares of company stock valued at $1,125,051. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.