Fortis (TSE:FTS) Stock Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$71.64 and traded as high as C$78.63. Fortis shares last traded at C$78.38, with a volume of 3,055,420 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. TD Securities upped their price objective on Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$75.65.

Fortis Stock Up 0.5%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$73.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$71.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 145.62. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter. Fortis had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 7.51%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.09%.

Insider Activity at Fortis

In other news, insider Karen J. Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total transaction of C$657,650.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 52,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$4,083,185.04. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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