Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 5,839,703 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 708% from the previous session’s volume of 722,727 shares.The stock last traded at $44.02 and had previously closed at $44.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FTS shares. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.16.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.85%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Fortis by 26.9% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,336,000 after buying an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 21.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,259,000 after acquiring an additional 512,103 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Fortis by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,230,000 after acquiring an additional 507,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP increased its holdings in Fortis by 413.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 395,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,973,000 after purchasing an additional 318,474 shares in the last quarter. 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.