Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at TD Securities

Equities research analysts at TD Securities began coverage on shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

FTS has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Desjardins began coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE FTS opened at $47.16 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.16. Fortis has a one year low of $38.50 and a one year high of $50.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Company Profile

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.