Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Down 10.1% in October

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTSGet Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,220,000 shares, a drop of 10.1% from the September 30th total of 8,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 615,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 11.7 days.

Fortis Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:FTS opened at $43.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.74. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.47.

Fortis (NYSE:FTSGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.615 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.69%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on FTS

Fortis Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Articles

Receive News & Ratings for Fortis Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fortis and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.