Emera (TSE:EMA) Hits New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as C$56.27 and last traded at C$56.24, with a volume of 826354 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$55.22.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.725 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. Emera’s payout ratio is presently 112.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised Emera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from C$55.00 to C$57.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Emera from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Emera from C$54.00 to C$58.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. CIBC raised shares of Emera from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from C$54.00 to C$58.00 in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Emera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$57.10.

Emera Trading Up 1.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of C$16.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$53.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 155.62, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported C$0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.77 by C$0.04. Emera had a return on equity of 6.60% and a net margin of 10.83%. Equities analysts forecast that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Emera

Emera Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity to various customers. The company operates through Florida Electric Utility, Canadian Electric Utilities, Other Electric Utilities, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Other segments.