Fortis (TSE:FTS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as C$78.34 and last traded at C$78.24, with a volume of 2007789 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$76.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins boosted their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$75.65.

Fortis Trading Up 1.6%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$72.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$71.30. 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 has a market cap of C$39.70 billion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (EPS) 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$3.08 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.09%.

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.