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

Key Points

• Analysts have assigned Fortis an average rating of "Moderate Buy" across eight firms, with an average 1‑year price target of C$77.06 (4 holds, 3 buys, 1 strong buy).
• Insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares on Feb 23 at C$78.18, cutting her stake by 13.87%; company insiders own only 0.04% of the stock.
• Fortis pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to C$2.56 for a 3.2% yield (DPR 73.09%); the stock is trading near its 52‑week high and has a market cap of about C$40.4 billion.

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$77.06.

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. National Bank Financial raised their price target 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 raised their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins raised their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price target on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total transaction of C$657,650.16. Following the sale, the insider owned 52,228 shares in the company, valued at C$4,083,185.04. This trade represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortis Stock Performance

Fortis stock opened at C$79.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.62, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$77.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$73.37. The company has a market capitalization of C$40.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.45. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of C$61.32 and a fifty-two week high of C$80.44.

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

Fortis Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.09%.

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.

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