Brokerages Set Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Price Target at C$75.65

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$75.65.

Several research analysts have issued reports on FTS shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of TSE FTS opened at C$77.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$75.54 and its 200-day moving average price is C$72.39. Fortis has a 1-year low of C$61.32 and a 1-year high of C$80.44. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.62.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The company had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.09%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total transaction of C$657,650.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 52,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$4,083,185.04. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.