Insider Selling: Fortis (TSE:FTS) Insider Sells C$657,650.16 in Stock

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

Fortis Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of FTS opened at C$77.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of C$73.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$71.44. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of C$61.32 and a 52 week high of C$78.47. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.35.

Fortis (TSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported C$0.90 earnings per share for the quarter. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.53%.The business had revenue of C$3.08 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 3.3419913 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 73.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on FTS. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$74.00 to C$77.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. National Bank Financial lifted their target price on shares of Fortis from C$68.00 to C$72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities raised 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 note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Fortis from C$79.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus 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.