Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Update

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the March 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 646,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 10.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Fortis Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.62. The stock had a trading volume of 69,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 627,706. 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a 52 week low of $38.15 and a 52 week high of $48.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.96.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors 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 yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortis by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $509,425,000 after purchasing an additional 173,226 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $379,614,000 after purchasing an additional 329,767 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,068,000 after purchasing an additional 612,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $184,878,000 after buying an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by 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.