Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.83 Per Share

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 26th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.83 per share on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59.

Fortis Stock Up 0.7 %

FTS opened at C$61.57 on Friday. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of C$49.82 and a fifty-two week high of C$62.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$59.33 and its 200 day moving average is C$55.77. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.22.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported C$0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.65 by C$0.02. The firm had revenue of C$2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$2.71 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 7.44%. Research analysts expect that Fortis will post 3.338843 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$61.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America set a C$60.00 target price on shares of Fortis and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$60.10.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In related news, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total transaction of C$1,187,493.18. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona’s Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.