Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $47.94 and last traded at $47.53, with a volume of 82423 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $44.15 and its 200-day moving average is $43.74.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Fortis by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.