Fortis (TSE:FTS) Cut to Hold at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut shares of Fortis (TSE:FTS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. TD upped their price objective on Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their price objective on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$79.32.

Fortis Stock Performance

Fortis stock opened at C$82.42 on Friday. Fortis has a 52 week low of C$64.42 and a 52 week high of C$82.80. 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 capitalization of C$41.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$79.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$77.06.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.51% and a net margin of 14.75%. Analysts expect that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.04%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In related news, insider James Reid sold 24,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider owned 31,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,477,926.43. This trade represents a 44.12% decrease in their position. In the last three months, insiders acquired 572 shares of company stock valued at $45,909. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.