Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Update

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,830,000 shares, a growth of 40.4% from the January 31st total of 10,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 561,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 26.4 days.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 173,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,428. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 77.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,394 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Fortis by 21.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after purchasing an additional 930,331 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,068,000 after purchasing an additional 612,395 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.