Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$79.68.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce downgraded Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. TD upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays reduced their target price on Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective on Fortis from C$81.00 to C$85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at C$78.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of C$40.20 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.42. Fortis has a twelve month low of C$67.15 and a twelve month high of C$83.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 143.60. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$80.44 and a 200 day moving average price of C$78.25.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 14.72%.The company had revenue of C$2.93 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.56%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other Fortis news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total transaction of C$33,280.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,472,921.15. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 572 shares of company stock worth $45,909. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Fortis

Fortis owns and operates 10 utility transmission and distribution assets in Canada and the United States, serving more than 3.4 million electricity and gas customers. The company has smaller stakes in electricity generation and several Caribbean utilities. ITC operates electric transmission in seven U.S. states, with more than 16,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in operation serving a peak load in excess of 23 gigawatts.