Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $41.98. The company had a trading volume of 354,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,819. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.92 and a 200-day moving average of $43.14. The company has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.3 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 79.41%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Fortis in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th 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 raised its stake in Fortis by 52.2% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.