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

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$65.00 and last traded at C$64.73, with a volume of 69217 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$64.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Fortis from C$63.00 to C$66.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$65.00 to C$69.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Fortis from C$61.00 to C$62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. CIBC boosted their target price on Fortis from C$64.00 to C$65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a C$67.00 price target on shares of Fortis and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$62.45.

Fortis Stock Up 0.6 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$61.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$61.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31. The firm has a market capitalization of C$31.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.615 dividend. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.02%.

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.