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

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report)'s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$59.85 and traded as high as C$61.91. Fortis shares last traded at C$60.98, with a volume of 1,601,934 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on FTS shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$60.89.

Fortis Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business's 50 day simple moving average is C$60.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$59.91. The stock has a market capitalization of C$30.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C$0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.81 by C$0.04. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 14.35%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.35%. Fortis's payout ratio is 77.12%.

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other Fortis news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch bought 450 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 450 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. Also, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total transaction of C$746,178.83. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.