Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$64.25.

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Fortis from C$58.00 to C$63.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$69.00 to C$62.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$66.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS opened at C$66.34 on Monday. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$52.19 and a 12 month high of C$69.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$65.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$63.15. The stock has a market capitalization of C$32.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 1st will be given a $0.615 dividend. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 73.02%.

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.