Emera (TSE:EMA) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

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

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.725 per share. This represents a $2.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Emera’s payout ratio is currently 112.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on EMA. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Emera from C$54.00 to C$58.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Emera from C$55.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Emera from C$51.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Emera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from C$55.00 to C$57.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. 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 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 155.62, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of C$16.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$53.94.

Emera (TSE:EMA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 6.60%. As a group, analysts predict that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Company Profile

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.