Julie Dobson Buys 291 Shares of Fortis (TSE:FTS) Stock

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Director Julie Dobson bought 291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$78.88 per share, for a total transaction of C$22,954.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$189,627.52. This represents a 13.77% increase in their position.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at C$81.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of C$41.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$78.28 and a 200 day moving average of C$76.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of C$63.54 and a 12 month high of C$82.67.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.40 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.51% and a net margin of 14.75%. On average, research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on FTS. TD lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. National Bank Financial lifted their price target on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$79.32.

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.