Fortis (TSE:FTS) Stock Rating Lowered by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Fortis (TSE:FTS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of 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. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, TD increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$79.32.

Fortis Price Performance

TSE FTS opened at C$82.42 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$41.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$79.15 and its 200-day moving average price is C$77.02. 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.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share for the quarter. The company 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other news, insider James Reid sold 24,700 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider owned 31,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,477,926.43. This trade represents a 44.12% decrease in their position. In the last quarter, insiders bought 572 shares of company stock valued at $45,909. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.