Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Here’s Why

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)’s stock price fell 1.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $43.28 and last traded at $43.82. 640,537 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 632,841 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. 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 results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.