Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the nine research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$52.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. CIBC increased their price objective on Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, National Bankshares boosted their target price on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at C$60.72 on Thursday. Fortis has a one year low of C$51.02 and a one year high of C$62.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of C$30.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$60.62 and a 200-day moving average price of C$57.08.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.47%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.12%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other news, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total value of C$1,187,493.18. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortis Company Profile

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.