Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Average Recommendation of "Reduce" by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Reduce" by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Bank of America set a C$60.00 price target on Fortis and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Fortis from C$52.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Thursday, July 25th. National Bankshares raised their price target on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up C$0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$60.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,332,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,614,978. The business's 50-day moving average price is C$60.56 and its 200-day moving average price is C$56.81. The firm has a market cap of C$29.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59. Fortis has a 52 week low of C$51.02 and a 52 week high of C$62.47.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.65 by C$0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 7.44%. The business had revenue of C$2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$2.71 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 77.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total value of C$1,187,493.18. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortis Company Profile

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.