Fortis (TSE:FTS) Downgraded by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to “Hold”

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut shares of Fortis (TSE:FTS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

FTS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. National Bank Financial raised their price target on 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 upped their price target 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. Barclays decreased 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. Finally, TD boosted their price target on Fortis from C$83.00 to C$84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$79.32.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS opened at C$82.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41. Fortis has a 52-week low of C$64.42 and a 52-week high of C$82.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$79.15 and a 200 day moving average price of C$77.02.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of C$3.40 billion for the quarter. Research analysts predict that Fortis will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 74.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortis news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$79.05, for a total transaction of C$33,280.05. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,283 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$2,472,921.15. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders acquired 572 shares of company stock worth $45,909 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.