Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Fortis (NYSE:FTS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $57.96 and last traded at $57.96, with a volume of 131012 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $57.78.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FTS. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.3%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $54.10 and a 200 day moving average of $51.93. The company has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.24%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.05%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after acquiring an additional 536,118 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Fortis by 9.1% during 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 during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Fortis by 0.4% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,531,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $686,518,000 after purchasing an additional 57,447 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,748,000 after purchasing an additional 326,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after purchasing an additional 677,226 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.