Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Fortis (TSE:FTS) Price Target to C$70.00

Fortis (TSE:FTS) had its target price trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FTS. TD Securities boosted their price target on Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of 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. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$76.00 to C$79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$79.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$74.65.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4%

Fortis stock opened at C$72.60 on Wednesday. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$60.50 and a 12 month high of C$74.00. 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 stock has a market cap of C$36.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$71.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$70.30.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported C$0.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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$2.94 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 73.21%.

Fortis Company Profile

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.