Fortis Inc. (FTS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.59 on September 1st

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.59 per share on Sunday, September 1st. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 20th.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up C$0.35 on Thursday, hitting C$58.07. 137,946 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,591,007. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$54.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$53.91. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.18. Fortis has a 1 year low of C$49.82 and a 1 year high of C$58.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.89, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.60.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported C$0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.89 by C$0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.11% and a return on equity of 7.38%. The firm had revenue of C$3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$3.34 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 3.2075145 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FTS. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$56.00 to C$59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$60.00 to C$56.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$59.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$58.00 to C$58.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$57.63.

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other news, Senior Officer James Reid purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of C$52.37 per share, with a total value of C$36,659.00. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.