Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.00.

FTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. CIBC reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $291,400,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Fortis by 4,662.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 986,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,244,000 after buying an additional 965,833 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Fortis by 60.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,508,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,270,000 after buying an additional 947,079 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,414,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,828,000 after buying an additional 849,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,025,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,099,399,000 after acquiring an additional 759,772 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3%

Fortis stock opened at $51.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.68 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.22. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $52.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 7.05%. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 75.83%.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.