Fortis (TSE:FTS) Given New C$83.00 Price Target at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays cut its price target on Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 but kept an overweight rating, implying roughly an 8.2% upside from the stock's recent price.
• MarketBeat shows a consensus of Moderate Buy for Fortis with an average target price of C$78.68 and analyst breakdown of 1 Strong Buy, 5 Buy and 4 Hold ratings.
• Insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares at about C$78.18 (a 13.87% reduction in her holding); overall insider ownership is only 0.04%.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Barclays from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price target indicates a potential upside of 8.20% from the stock's current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on FTS. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. TD lifted their target price on Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on Fortis from C$74.00 to C$75.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Desjardins lifted their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$78.68.

Fortis Stock Performance

Fortis stock traded up C$0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$76.71. 489,148 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,703,167. Fortis has a 12-month low of C$63.54 and a 12-month high of C$80.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of C$39.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.47. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is C$77.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$74.36.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The company had revenue of C$3.40 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In related news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$4,083,185.04. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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