Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Brokerages

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Reduce" by the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$60.89.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America set a C$60.00 target price on shares of Fortis and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch acquired 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$61.41 per share, with a total value of C$27,634.59. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total value of C$746,178.83. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Fortis Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of FTS stock traded down C$0.47 on Tuesday, reaching C$58.15. 1,173,584 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,359,905. Fortis has a twelve month low of C$51.02 and a twelve month high of C$63.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59. The company has a market capitalization of C$28.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The business's 50 day moving average price is C$61.02 and its 200 day moving average price is C$59.33.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Fortis's payout ratio is presently 77.12%.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.