Emera (TSE:EMA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$76.45 and last traded at C$75.98, with a volume of 10526 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$76.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on EMA shares. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Emera from C$69.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Barclays set a C$72.00 price objective on shares of Emera and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Emera from C$73.00 to C$74.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Emera from C$74.50 to C$75.25 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, TD boosted their price objective on Emera from C$75.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Emera currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$74.39.

Emera Stock Down 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of C$23.01 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 168.83. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$72.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$70.58.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported C$1.37 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$2.81 billion during the quarter. Emera had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 7.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.7325 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $2.93 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Emera’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard Janega sold 16,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$74.25, for a total value of C$1,225,125.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 19,642 shares in the company, valued at C$1,458,418.50. This represents a 45.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

About Emera

Emera (TSX/NYSE: EMA) is a leading North American provider of energy services headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with investments in regulated electric and natural gas utilities, and related businesses and assets. The Emera family of companies delivers safe, reliable energy to approximately 2.7 million customers in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Our team of 7,800 employees is committed to our purpose of energizing modern life and delivering a cleaner energy future for all. Emera’s common and preferred shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its common shares are listed and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.