Fortis (TSE:FTS) Sets New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as C$78.07 and last traded at C$77.71, with a volume of 3156084 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$77.42.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, March 1st will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Up 0.4%

The company has a market capitalization of C$39.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$72.19 and its 200-day moving average is C$71.07.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.08 billion during the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 7.48%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current year.

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.