Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Fortis has a “Moderate Buy” consensus from 10 brokerages, split evenly between buy and hold ratings, with an average 12-month price target of C$79.68.
• Fortis reported quarterly earnings of C$0.78 per share on C$2.93 billion in revenue, while its shares opened at C$76.47 and have traded between C$67.15 and C$83.75 over the past year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.64 per share, equivalent to an annualized $2.56 dividend and a 3.3% yield; its payout ratio stands at 74.56%.

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, 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 twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$79.68.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price target on Fortis from C$81.00 to C$85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS opened at C$76.47 on Friday. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$67.15 and a 12 month high of C$83.75. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$79.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$78.52. The stock has a market capitalization of C$39.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 143.60.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.72% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business had revenue of C$2.93 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 74.56%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total value of C$33,280.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$2,472,921.15. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 572 shares of company stock valued at $45,909. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Fortis Company Profile

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.

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