Fortis (TSE:FTS) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$58.86 and traded as high as C$60.50. Fortis shares last traded at C$60.35, with a volume of 672,544 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America set a C$60.00 target price on shares of Fortis and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Fortis from C$59.00 to C$61.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$60.33.

Fortis Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a market capitalization of C$29.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of C$61.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$58.86.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 77.12%.

Insider Activity

In other Fortis news, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of Fortis stock in a transaction on 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. Also, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of the firm’s 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. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.