Fortis (TSE:FTS) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$75.84 and last traded at C$74.92, with a volume of 378038 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$73.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$79.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$74.65.

Fortis Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is C$71.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$70.78. The stock has a market capitalization of C$38.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 EPS for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 7.48%. The business had revenue of C$3.08 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.21%.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis owns and operates 10 utility transmission and distribution assets in Canada and the United States, serving more than 3.4 million electricity and gas customers. The company has smaller stakes in electricity generation and several Caribbean utilities. ITC operates electric transmission in seven U.S. states, with more than 16,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in operation serving a peak load in excess of 23 gigawatts.