Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Update

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,040,000 shares, a drop of 8.7% from the March 31st total of 8,810,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 868,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.13.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.49 on Monday, hitting $39.55. 434,873 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 839,448. Fortis has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.10 and a 200 day moving average of $39.96. The stock has a market cap of $19.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.42.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.00%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 55.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTS. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter valued at about $60,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth about $96,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 111.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd raised its holdings in Fortis by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently 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.