Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives C$60.33 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the nine analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

FTS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fortis from C$52.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, National Bankshares lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In related news, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total transaction of C$1,187,493.18. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:FTS opened at C$59.74 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$60.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$56.88. The company has a market cap of C$29.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.69. Fortis has a one year low of C$51.02 and a one year high of C$62.47.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.65 by C$0.02. The company had revenue of C$2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$2.71 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 7.44%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 77.12%.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona’s Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.