StockNews.com Downgrades Fortis (NYSE:FTS) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $37.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.28 and a 200 day moving average of $39.97. Fortis has a 52 week low of $36.30 and a 52 week high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.0% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.1% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,842,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $816,107,000 after acquiring an additional 421,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,653,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,154,000 after acquiring an additional 818,835 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.