Fortis (TSE:FTS) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. CIBC upped their price objective on Fortis from C$57.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. National Bankshares increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$60.33.

Fortis Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59. The stock has a market cap of C$30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average is C$60.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$57.47.

Fortis Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total value of C$1,334,543.75. Also, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch purchased 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$61.41 per share, with a total value of C$27,634.59. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortis Company Profile

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.