Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as C$80.34 and last traded at C$79.86, with a volume of 54738 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$79.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FTS. Raymond James Financial raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted 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 report on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Up 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.61 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.62, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$74.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$72.15.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The firm had revenue of C$3.08 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In related news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total value of C$657,650.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 52,228 shares in the company, valued at C$4,083,185.04. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.