Fortis (TSE:FTS) Sets New 12-Month High Following Dividend Announcement

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as C$78.07 and last traded at C$77.71, with a volume of 3156084 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$77.42.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, March 1st will be issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Down 0.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of C$39.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$72.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$71.11.

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

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.