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

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

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, October 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 794,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,955,000 after purchasing an additional 236,347 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,224,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $296,614,000 after purchasing an additional 345,633 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 7.0% in the second quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 101,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,846,000 after buying an additional 6,682 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Fortis by 17.5% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 43,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,088,000 after buying an additional 6,510 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortis by 13.9% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS stock opened at $52.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $26.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $50.90 and a 200-day moving average of $49.35. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.32 and a 12-month high of $52.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.83%.

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.