Fortis (TSE:FTS) Price Target Lowered to C$83.00 at Barclays

Fortis (TSE:FTS) had its target price cut by Barclays from C$84.00 to C$83.00 in a research note released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$78.68.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at C$76.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$39.07 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis has a 52-week low of C$63.54 and a 52-week high of C$80.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$77.95 and its 200 day moving average price is C$74.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$3.40 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.51% and a net margin of 14.75%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.04%.

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other Fortis news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total value of C$657,650.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 52,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,083,185.04. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.