Fortis (TSE:FTS) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$68.73 and traded as high as C$70.24. Fortis shares last traded at C$70.16, with a volume of 1,790,746 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$76.00 to C$79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Fortis from C$70.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$74.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$73.65.

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$35.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$71.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$68.73.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported C$0.87 EPS for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.53%.The firm had revenue of C$2.94 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.21%.

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.