Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Fortis Price Performance

TSE:FTS opened at C$63.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of C$31.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$61.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$57.83. Fortis has a one year low of C$51.02 and a one year high of C$63.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total value of C$1,334,543.75. Also, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch acquired 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$61.41 per share, with a total value of C$27,634.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 450 shares in the company, valued at C$27,634.59. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.