Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Now Covered by Bank of America

Investment analysts at Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in a note issued to investors on Friday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set an “underperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

FTS has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $44.62 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $45.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $120,880,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,145,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438,223 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 26.9% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,653,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,154,000 after purchasing an additional 818,835 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.