Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Director Pierre J. Blouin Acquires 190 Shares

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) Director Pierre J. Blouin acquired 190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$61.17 per share, for a total transaction of C$11,622.81. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 835 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$51,079.20.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock traded down C$0.93 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching C$60.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,140,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,616,791. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.23. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of C$50.69 and a fifty-two week high of C$62.29. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$59.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$56.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.67 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 firm had revenue of C$2.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of C$2.71 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.29329 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.46%. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of several research reports. National Bankshares boosted their target price on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$60.40.

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.