Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Hits New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $48.08 and last traded at $48.02, with a volume of 68339 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.39.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold".

Fortis Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm's 50-day moving average is $45.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $24.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is 72.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $393,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 286.7% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 158,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Fortis during the first quarter worth about $864,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortis by 573.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,771 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 5,765 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is 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.