Fortis (TSE:FTS) Insider Karen Gosse Sells 8,412 Shares

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) insider Karen Gosse sold 8,412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$78.18, for a total value of C$657,650.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 52,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$4,083,185.04. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of TSE FTS opened at C$77.85 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$72.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$71.36. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of C$61.32 and a fifty-two week high of C$78.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share (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$3.08 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Sunday, March 1st will be given a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$75.50 to C$78.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on Fortis from C$75.00 to C$76.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on Fortis from C$77.00 to C$79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$75.65.

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.