Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$79.32.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. National Bank Financial increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th.

Fortis Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of TSE FTS opened at C$82.09 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$77.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$75.97. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Fortis has a 1 year low of C$63.54 and a 1 year high of C$82.67.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.40 billion during the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 7.51%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other Fortis news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 31,283 shares in the company, valued at C$2,472,921.15. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.