Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Upgraded to “Hold” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Fortis Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $39.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.43. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $43.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.00.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.66%. Equities research analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Fortis by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $96,000. Versor Investments LP increased its position in Fortis by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 6,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $663,000. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,383,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortis

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.