Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Fortis (NYSE:FTS) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from eleven research firms, with two sell ratings, four holds, four buys, and one strong buy.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4448 per share, yielding an annualized dividend of $1.78 at a 3.5% yield.
• In its latest earnings report, Fortis exceeded expectations with $0.55 earnings per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.51.

Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on FTS shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. National Bankshares reiterated a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth $28,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the second quarter worth $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 2,119.1% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 111.7% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded down $0.18 on Thursday, hitting $50.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 578,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,301. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58. Fortis has a 1 year low of $40.32 and a 1 year high of $51.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.85. The company has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 73.25%.

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.