Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) saw a large decline in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,430,000 shares, a decline of 19.8% from the May 15th total of 14,260,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 608,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 18.8 days.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.75.
Fortis Stock Up 0.8 %
FTS stock opened at $42.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.76 and its 200 day moving average is $41.86. The stock has a market cap of $20.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.44. Fortis has a 1-year low of $34.76 and a 1-year high of $48.22.
Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.06. Fortis had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 6.63%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Institutional Trading of Fortis
A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 22.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.1% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 26,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 45.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 510,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,266,000 after acquiring an additional 159,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 32.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 212,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,540,000 after acquiring an additional 52,248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.59% 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 443,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 102,000 retail customers in Arizona’s Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,328 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.