During the fourth quarter, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Fortis Inc. (FTS:NYE) by 10.4%, according to a recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm sold 10,348 shares of Fortis stock, bringing their total holdings to 88,952 shares, valued at $3,562,000 at the end of the reporting period.
Other institutional investors also made changes to their positions in FTS, including American Century Companies Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Natixis Advisors L.P., BlackRock Inc., and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.
Fortis Stock-Analyst Ratings:
Several research analysts provided their take on Fortis in recent months. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and gave the stock a $65.00 price target.
Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Fortis from an “underweight” to an “equal weight” rating, noting that the move was based on valuation.
National Bank Financial raised its price target on Fortis from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in February.
Scotiabank also increased its target price on the stock from C$57.00 to C$58.00 in January.
Fortis Stock Price Analysis:
Shares of Fortis stock opened at $44.68 on Thursday, up 0.0% from the previous close. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.65, and a quick ratio of 0.55. Fortis has a 1-year low of $34.76 and a 1-year high of $51.46.
Its 50-day moving average is $41.24, and its 200-day moving average is $40.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 3.65, and a beta of 0.44.
According to data from Stock Target Advisor, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $58.44.
Quarterly Earnings Review:
In February, Fortis reported quarterly earnings of $0.53 per share, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates. The company had a net margin of 12.20% and a return on equity of 6.48%.
Revenue for the quarter was $2.33 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Analysts expect Fortis to post earnings per share of $2.18 for the current fiscal year.
Fortis Stock Dividend:
Recently, Fortis announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on June 1st to stockholders of record as of May 17th. The dividend increased from the previous quarter’s $0.42 to $0.4211, representing an annualized dividend of $1.68 and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date for the dividend is May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.34%.
Company Profile:
Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It also owns and operates approximately 90,200 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 51,200 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John’s, Canada.
