Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Price Target Raised to $72.00

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) had its price target boosted by Royal Bank of Canada from $69.00 to $72.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FTS. Desjardins began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 1.0 %

FTS opened at $48.02 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.45 and a 200-day moving average of $44.31. The company has a market capitalization of $24.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $38.15 and a fifty-two week high of $50.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 71.73%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,751,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 847.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,548,000 after acquiring an additional 162,430 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 94.8% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 294,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,235,000 after purchasing an additional 143,400 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,638 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.3% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 30,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 10,491 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.