Fortis (TSE:FTS) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$78.34 and last traded at C$78.24, with a volume of 2007789 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$76.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FTS shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins boosted their target price on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial upped their price target on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$75.65.

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$72.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$71.30. The stock has a market capitalization of C$39.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 7.48%. Research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.09%.

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.