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

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTS. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. National Bankshares upped their target price on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. CIBC raised their price target on Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other Fortis news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch bought 450 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$61.41 per share, with a total value of C$27,634.59. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This represents a ? increase in their position. Also, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total value of C$1,334,543.75. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at C$62.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of C$31.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. Fortis has a 52 week low of C$51.02 and a 52 week high of C$63.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is C$61.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$58.01.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.28%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 77.12%.

About Fortis

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.