Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$82.50 and last traded at C$81.58, with a volume of 320741 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$80.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$78.50 to C$80.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$84.00 to C$83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$79.32.

Fortis Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$78.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$76.30.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$0.99 EPS for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The business had revenue of C$3.40 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total value of C$33,280.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,472,921.15. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 572 shares of company stock worth $45,909. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Fortis

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.