Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Sets New 1-Year High at $44.34

Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $44.34 and last traded at $44.28, with a volume of 173959 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.431 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,477,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $801,263,000 after buying an additional 4,924,031 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $120,880,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortis during the 4th quarter worth about $119,043,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,145,000 after acquiring an additional 2,438,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,728 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.