Brokerages Set Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Target Price at C$60.33

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America set a C$60.00 price objective on Fortis and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the firm’s 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 Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total value of C$746,178.83. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Up 1.2 %

Fortis stock opened at C$60.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$61.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$58.64. The stock has a market cap of C$29.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. Fortis has a 52 week low of C$51.02 and a 52 week 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.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 77.12%.

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.