Fortis (TSE:FTS) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$69.67 and traded as high as C$72.23. Fortis shares last traded at C$72.09, with a volume of 2,490,239 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$74.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$79.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$75.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$74.85.

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a market cap of C$36.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is C$71.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$69.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported C$0.87 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$2.94 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.53% and a return on equity of 7.48%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.21%.

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. states, with more than 16,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in operation serving a peak load in excess of 23 gigawatts.