Fortis (TSE:FTS) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of C$61.11 and a 200-day moving average of C$59.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59. The stock has a market cap of C$29.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total transaction of C$1,334,543.75. Also, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch bought 450 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$61.41 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,634.59. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.