Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $48.08 and last traded at $48.02, with a volume of 68339 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $47.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Stock Up 0.5 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business 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 $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 77.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Fortis by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,068,000 after purchasing an additional 612,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,869,000. 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.