Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Update

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,830,000 shares, a growth of 40.4% from the January 31st total of 10,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 561,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 26.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE FTS traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.19. 1,188,808 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 572,029. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 19,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 5,723 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Fortis by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 12,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in Fortis by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 8,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 3,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Fortis by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 136,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,134,000 after acquiring an additional 9,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

About Fortis

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.