Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $41.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.30 and a twelve month high of $43.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.58. The firm has a market cap of $20.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.45.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.43 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.66%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,477,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $801,263,000 after acquiring an additional 4,924,031 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortis in the fourth quarter worth $120,880,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at $119,043,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,145,000 after buying an additional 2,438,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,653,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,154,000 after buying an additional 818,835 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.