Brokerages Set Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Target Price at $72.00

Key Points

• Fortis (NYSE:FTS) has an average recommendation of "Hold" among analysts, with 2 sell ratings, 5 hold ratings, 4 buy ratings, and 1 strong buy rating.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4448, translating to an annual yield of 3.6%.
• Fortis reported earnings of $0.55 per share for the quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.51, and posted revenue of $2.03 billion.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on FTS shares. Zacks Research lowered Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. CIBC upgraded Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Desjardins raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $49.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 287,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 555,406. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $40.32 and a fifty-two week high of $51.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $49.23 and its 200-day moving average is $47.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $24.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a $0.4448 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,265 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 5.7% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Fortis by 0.6% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 48,548 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 3.4% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 9,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $420,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,452,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortis

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.