Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,880,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the December 15th total of 8,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 599,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTS. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Fortis by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after buying an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after buying an additional 930,331 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,259,000 after buying an additional 512,103 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,230,000 after buying an additional 507,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP increased its holdings in Fortis by 413.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 395,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,973,000 after buying an additional 318,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.98. The company had a trading volume of 354,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,819. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.11. The stock has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company.

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.