Updating your Income-Growth Payers: Fortis

Article Excerpt

FORTIS INC. $49 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol FTS; Income-Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 466.8 million; Market cap: $22.9 billion; Dividend yield 4.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.fortisinc.com) is the main power utility in Newfoundland and PEI. It also owns electrical utilities in other parts of Canada as well as the U.S. and the Caribbean. Also, the utility distributes natural gas in British Columbia, Arizona and New York State. With the December 2020 payment, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 5.8%, to $0.505 a share from $0.4775. The annual rate of $2.02 yields a high 4.1%. The company intends to raise that annual payment by about 6% each year through 2025. Fortis now plans to spend $19.6 billion on projects and upgrades to existing operations over the next five years. It will start with $3.8 billion in 2021, gradually stepping up to $4.0 billion by 2025. Fortis plans to dedicate 85% of its capital plan to smaller, low-risk projects. Approximately 55% of…