Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Fortis by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,966,121,000 after buying an additional 1,557,443 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,254,541,000 after acquiring an additional 536,118 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Fortis by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,748,000 after acquiring an additional 326,212 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $445,335,000 after acquiring an additional 677,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $57.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54 and a beta of 0.43. Fortis has a twelve month low of $46.46 and a twelve month high of $58.78.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 14.21%.The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.