Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Research Coverage Started at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Stock Up 1.1 %

FTS opened at $44.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.51. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.86%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 79.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 114.7% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 161,482 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Fortis by 79.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,442,000 after acquiring an additional 153,416 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Fortis by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,394 shares during the period. Keyvantage Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $957,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 529,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,003,000 after acquiring an additional 31,467 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Company Profile

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.