Short Interest in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Decreases By 6.9%

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of 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 currently 13.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS traded up $0.23 during midday 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.14. Fortis has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 52.2% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.