Fortis (TSE:FTS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$75.84 and last traded at C$74.92, with a volume of 378038 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$73.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FTS. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Desjardins boosted their target price on Fortis from C$76.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$74.65.

Fortis Trading Up 4.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of C$38.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$71.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$70.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.53%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.21%.

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.