Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $58.96 and last traded at $58.8110, with a volume of 85205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1%

The firm has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50-day moving average is $56.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 175,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,150,000 after purchasing an additional 50,632 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,138,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $266,942,000 after buying an additional 204,151 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,254,541,000 after buying an additional 536,118 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings 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 worth $51,244,000 after buying an additional 965,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Fortis by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 127,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,654,000 after buying an additional 32,842 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.