Fortis (TSE:FTS) Shares Pass Above 200-Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$59.08 and traded as high as C$60.04. Fortis shares last traded at C$59.35, with a volume of 777,745 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America set a C$60.00 price target on shares of Fortis and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$60.33.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$61.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$59.12. The firm has a market cap of C$29.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortis

In other news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch purchased 450 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of C$61.41 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,634.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 450 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Also, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total value of C$1,334,543.75. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Fortis

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.