Fortis (TSE:FTS) Sets New 1-Year High After Dividend Announcement

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as C$64.11 and last traded at C$64.00, with a volume of 213515 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$62.89.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$67.00 price target on shares of Fortis and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$63.00 to C$66.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$61.80.

Fortis Stock Up 1.8 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$60.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$60.51. The company has a market cap of C$31.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In related news, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total transaction of C$746,178.83. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.