Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$83.28 and last traded at C$83.16, with a volume of 72595 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$82.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Desjardins raised their price target on Fortis from C$81.00 to C$85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. National Bank Financial upped their price objective on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce downgraded Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$79.68.

Fortis Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of C$79.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$77.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of C$42.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 EPS for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The firm had revenue of C$3.40 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.04%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In related news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total transaction of C$33,280.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,472,921.15. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 572 shares of company stock worth $45,909. 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.