Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$81.14 and last traded at C$81.01, with a volume of 269731 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$80.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$41.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$77.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$75.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.23.

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

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.04%.

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other Fortis news, insider James Reid sold 421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,472,921.15. This trade represents a 1.33% 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.