Analysts Set Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) PT at C$60.33

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at C$62.59 on Monday. Fortis has a one year low of C$51.02 and a one year high of C$63.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$61.30 and its 200 day moving average is C$58.12. The company has a market capitalization of C$30.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 77.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total transaction of C$1,334,543.75. Also, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total value of C$746,178.83. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.