Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$79.32.

FTS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. TD lifted their target price on Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their target price on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, insider James Reid sold 24,700 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$79.21, for a total transaction of C$1,956,487.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,283 shares in the company, valued at C$2,477,926.43. The trade was a 44.12% decrease in their position. In the last quarter, insiders bought 572 shares of company stock worth $45,909. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at C$82.42 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$79.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$77.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23. The stock has a market cap of C$41.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. Fortis has a 12-month low of C$64.42 and a 12-month high of C$82.80.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$3.40 billion during the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.51% and a net margin of 14.75%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.04%.

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.