Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives C$79.68 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$79.68.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FTS. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins upped 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. TD increased their target price on Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st.

Fortis Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of TSE FTS opened at C$78.68 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is C$80.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$78.21. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of C$67.15 and a fifty-two week high of C$83.75. The firm has a market capitalization of C$40.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 143.60, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

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

Fortis Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In related news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total transaction of C$33,280.05. Following the transaction, 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 position. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 572 shares of company stock valued at $45,909. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.