Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$79.05 and last traded at C$78.51, with a volume of 1740506 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$78.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FTS shares. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 note on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is C$74.44 and its 200-day moving average price is C$71.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.62, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of C$39.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.45.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share 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. 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 was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 73.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total value of C$657,650.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 52,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,083,185.04. This trade represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 0.04% of the stock is owned by 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.