Short Interest in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Grows By 67.0%

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 17,111,074 shares, a growth of 67.0% from the April 30th total of 10,246,556 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 672,164 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 25.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on FTS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.3% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 5,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 4,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Addison Capital Co grew its position in Fortis by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 32,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Fortis by 0.6% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 48,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,313,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $55.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.57. Fortis has a 12 month low of $46.46 and a 12 month high of $58.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45 and a beta of 0.43.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

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.