Fortis Inc. (FTS) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 18th

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.615 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Fortis has increased its dividend by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years. Fortis has a payout ratio of 71.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Fortis to earn $2.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.75 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 72.3%.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $45.56 on Friday. Fortis has a 52 week low of $36.30 and a 52 week high of $45.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.86.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.04% and a net margin of 13.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $61.00.

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.