Fortis (TSE:FTS) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as C$64.42 and last traded at C$64.39, with a volume of 616673 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$64.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a C$67.00 target price on Fortis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Fortis from C$64.00 to C$65.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$61.00 to C$62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortis from C$65.00 to C$69.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, 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, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$62.45.

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 firm 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$61.28 and its 200-day moving average price is C$60.99.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.