Fortis (TSE:FTS) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$62.54 and last traded at C$62.44, with a volume of 192327 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$61.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on FTS shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America set a C$60.00 target price on shares of Fortis and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$60.33.

Fortis Trading Down 0.1 %

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 firm has a market cap of C$30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$60.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$57.47.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.34%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 77.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortis news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total transaction of C$1,334,543.75. Also, Senior Officer James Reid sold 19,972 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$59.46, for a total transaction of C$1,187,493.18. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.