Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,650,000 shares, a drop of 31.1% from the February 28th total of 8,200,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 574,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Fortis during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $45.23. 563,896 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 625,625. The stock has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.92 and a 200 day moving average of $43.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.