Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) has been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$60.33.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. CIBC lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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 note on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, National Bankshares increased their price target on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 bought 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$61.41 per share, with a total value of C$27,634.59. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 450 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at C$63.13 on Monday. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$51.02 and a 12 month high of C$63.34. The company has a market capitalization 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of C$61.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$57.83. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.