AltaGas (TSE:ALA) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Neutral

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of AltaGas (TSE:ALA) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$37.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of C$36.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ALA. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$40.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AltaGas from C$36.00 to C$38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on AltaGas from C$37.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. CIBC boosted their price objective on AltaGas from C$38.00 to C$40.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, ATB Capital set a C$36.00 price objective on AltaGas and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AltaGas has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$38.00.

AltaGas Price Performance

Shares of AltaGas stock opened at C$34.08 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$34.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$31.76. AltaGas has a 52 week low of C$24.67 and a 52 week high of C$35.77. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 115.50.

AltaGas (TSE:ALA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of C$2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$2.54 billion. As a group, analysts expect that AltaGas will post 2.3006093 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AltaGas Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AltaGas

In other AltaGas news, Director Aaron Bishop sold 19,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.58, for a total transaction of C$665,555.60. In related news, Senior Officer Bertram Grant Bradley sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.61, for a total value of C$252,075.00. Also, Director Aaron Bishop sold 19,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.58, for a total value of C$665,555.60. Insiders sold 33,320 shares of company stock worth $1,125,051 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.