Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Short Interest Down 10.1% in October

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) was the target of a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,220,000 shares, a drop of 10.1% from the September 30th total of 8,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 615,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 11.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis in the second quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.0 %

FTS opened at $43.24 on Friday. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.74.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.615 dividend. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.69%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.46%.

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.