Fortis (TSE:FTS) Price Target Raised to C$72.00

Fortis (TSE:FTS) had its price target upped by National Bankshares from C$68.00 to C$72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. National Bankshares currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Fortis from C$74.00 to C$79.00 in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$74.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$70.00 to C$72.00 in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$76.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$74.85.

Fortis Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of FTS stock opened at C$70.10 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$71.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$68.87. Fortis has a 52 week low of C$57.98 and a 52 week high of C$74.00. The stock has a market cap of C$35.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported C$0.87 earnings per share 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$2.94 billion during the quarter. Analysts predict that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.21%.

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.