Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Down 6.9% in December

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,880,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the December 15th total of 8,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 599,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $41.98. 354,450 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 305,819. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.92 and its 200 day moving average is $43.11. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,006,000 after buying an additional 21,059 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,516,000 after acquiring an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,347,000 after acquiring an additional 141,400 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 11.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 15,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at $838,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.