Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

21 Apr 2025, 14:25 by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat Gem

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS – Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the March 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 646,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.4 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Fortis

Fortis Trading Down 0.9 %

Fortis stock traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $47.77. The stock had a trading volume of 146,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 634,125. The stock has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.84. Fortis has a one year low of $38.15 and a one year high of $48.56.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $1,751,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Fortis by 847.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,548,000 after purchasing an additional 162,430 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Fortis by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,330,000 after purchasing an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 94.8% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 294,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,235,000 after purchasing an additional 143,400 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,638 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortis

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