Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$75.65.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of TSE:FTS opened at C$77.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of C$39.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$60.94 and a 12 month high of C$78.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$72.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$71.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 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$3.08 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.