Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$57.04.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortis from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$58.00 to C$58.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America upped their price target on Fortis from C$49.00 to C$50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Wednesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortis news, Senior Officer Ronald Hinsley sold 972 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$38.79, for a total transaction of C$37,706.21. In related news, Senior Officer Ronald Hinsley sold 972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$38.79, for a total transaction of C$37,706.21. Also, Director Brian Slocum bought 1,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$39.18 per share, for a total transaction of C$73,971.65. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 2,851 shares of company stock worth $111,115. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at C$55.48 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is C$53.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$54.18. The firm has a market capitalization of C$27.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.18. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of C$49.82 and a fifty-two week high of C$62.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.89, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of C$0.72. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 14.11%. The company had revenue of C$2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$3.22 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.1998828 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Saturday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 75.40%.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.