Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Receives $61.00 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $61.00.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FTS. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $335,980,000. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,443 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4,662.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 986,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,244,000 after purchasing an additional 965,833 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 60.7% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,508,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,270,000 after purchasing an additional 947,079 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $57.13 on Wednesday. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $29.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fortis

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.