Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Rating Increased to Strong Sell at UBS Group

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS stock opened at $44.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.30 and a 200-day moving average of $40.41. Fortis has a 12-month low of $36.30 and a 12-month high of $45.34.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its position in Fortis by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Fortis by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 81,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its holdings in Fortis by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.