Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

Equities researchers at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) in a research note issued on Thursday, May 18th. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$57.00 to C$58.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Fortis from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.75.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $42.11. 80,383 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 584,898. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Fortis has a twelve month low of $34.76 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The company has a market cap of $20.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.57.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 6.63% and a net margin of 12.42%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis in the 1st quarter worth about $6,182,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 24.6% in the first quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Fortis by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 297,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,655,000 after purchasing an additional 3,845 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth about $330,614,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.59% of the company’s stock.

About Fortis

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Fortis, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the electric and gas utility industry. It operates under the Regulated Utilities and Non-Regulated segments. The Regulated Utilities segment includes ITC Holdings (ITC), UNS Energy Corporation (UNS Energy), Central Hudson, FortisBC Energy, FortisAlberta, and FortisBC Electric.