Emera (TSE:EMA) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Emera Incorporated (TSE:EMA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$54.19 and last traded at C$53.88, with a volume of 640213 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$53.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. CIBC reduced their price objective on shares of Emera from C$51.00 to C$50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Emera from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Emera from C$49.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Emera from C$54.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Emera from C$57.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.10.

Emera Stock Down 0.9 %

The company has a market cap of C$15.32 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$51.78 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.92. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported C$0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.56 by C($0.03). Emera had a net margin of 10.83% and a return on equity of 6.60%. The business had revenue of C$1.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$1.67 billion. On average, analysts predict that Emera Incorporated will post 3.1991627 earnings per share for the current year.

Emera Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.725 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.46%. Emera’s payout ratio is currently 112.84%.

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.