Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Reaches New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $47.94 and last traded at $47.53, with a volume of 82423 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $46.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis has an average rating of "Hold".

Fortis Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $44.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Remove Ads

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Fortis's payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $1,751,000. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,830,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Fortis by 847.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,548,000 after buying an additional 162,430 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Fortis by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $131,330,000 after buying an additional 250,630 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 94.8% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 294,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,235,000 after acquiring an additional 143,400 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.