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

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$69.96 and traded as high as C$72.88. Fortis shares last traded at C$72.09, with a volume of 1,174,773 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$75.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Fortis from C$76.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. National Bankshares boosted their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$72.00 to C$74.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Fortis from C$72.00 to C$79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$74.85.

Fortis Trading Down 0.3%

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’s 50 day moving average is C$71.53 and its 200-day moving average is C$69.96. The firm has a market cap of C$36.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.31.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 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. states, with more than 16,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in operation serving a peak load in excess of 23 gigawatts.