Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Update

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,200,000 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the October 15th total of 13,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 811,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 17.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FTS. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on Fortis from $61.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Fortis from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on Fortis from $38.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.93.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,134,029,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter worth about $104,121,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 48.5% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,631,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,267 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,423,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,692,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.18% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.3 %

FTS traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.17. 398,510 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 650,460. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.01 and its 200 day moving average is $41.38. Fortis has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 12.81% and a return on equity of 6.96%. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.437 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 16th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 76.42%.

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 443,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 102,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,328 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.