Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $57.55 on Friday. Fortis has a 12-month low of $43.19 and a 12-month high of $57.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.59 and a 200 day moving average of $51.69.

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

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,980,000. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,545,000 after buying an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Fortis by 4,662.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 986,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,244,000 after buying an additional 965,833 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Fortis by 60.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,508,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,270,000 after buying an additional 947,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,414,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,828,000 after buying an additional 849,606 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.