Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Coverage Initiated at Bank of America

Equities research analysts at Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in a research report issued on Friday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “underperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on FTS. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $61.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.2 %

Fortis stock opened at $44.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Fortis has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $45.83. The firm has a market cap of $22.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.72.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Equities analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 123.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortis during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 53.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the first quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently 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.