Jefferies Financial Group Increases AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Price Target to C$40.00

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ALA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on AltaGas from C$39.00 to C$41.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, CIBC raised 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AltaGas currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$41.33.

AltaGas Stock Performance

Shares of ALA stock opened at C$40.20 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26. The company has a market cap of C$11.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$38.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$35.52. AltaGas has a 52 week low of C$29.67 and a 52 week high of C$40.98.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last released 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AltaGas will post 2.3006093 EPS for the current year.

AltaGas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.315 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. This is an increase from AltaGas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. AltaGas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.98%.

Insider Activity at AltaGas

In related news, Senior Officer Randy Warren Toone sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$39.19, for a total value of C$3,605,480.00. Also, Director Peter James Ledig sold 25,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$38.35, for a total value of C$966,420.00. Insiders have sold 398,414 shares of company stock valued at $15,302,227 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.