Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 12-Month High After Dividend Announcement

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as C$78.07 and last traded at C$77.71, with a volume of 3156084 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$77.42.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial increased their price target on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Up 0.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31. The firm has a market cap of C$39.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$72.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$71.07.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.53%.The firm had revenue of C$3.08 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.