Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.00.

FTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Fortis by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,966,121,000 after buying an additional 1,557,443 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after buying an additional 536,118 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Fortis by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Fortis by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,531,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $686,518,000 after acquiring an additional 57,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,748,000 after acquiring an additional 326,212 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of FTS opened at $56.50 on Friday. Fortis has a twelve month low of $46.46 and a twelve month high of $58.78. The company has a market cap of $28.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.