How to buy Fortis stock | 40.87

Fortis Inc is an utilities—regulated electric business based in the US. Fortis shares (FTS) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Fortis employs 9,000 staff and has a market cap (total outstanding shares value) of USD$19 billion.

How to buy shares in Fortis

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Fortis. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: FTS. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Fortis reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$40.87, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Fortis, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Fortis. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Fortis's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Fortis's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$40.87, which is 7.58% down on its pre-crash value of USD$44.22 and 42.95% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$28.59.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Fortis shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$665.64 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$935.51.

Fortis share price

Use our graph to track the performance of FTS stocks over time.

Fortis shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$40.87
52-week range	USD$28.59 - USD$44.72
50-day moving average	USD$40.604
200-day moving average	USD$39.3098
Wall St. target price	USD$44.98
PE ratio	20.4227
Dividend yield	USD$1.52 (3.72%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.726

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Is it a good time to buy Fortis stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Fortis Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Fortis price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $40.87 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-10-23)	-1.59%
1 month (2020-09-30)	0.02%
3 months (2020-07-30)	0.54%
6 months (2020-04-30)	5.47%

1 year (2019-10-30)	-0.90%
2 years (2018-10-30)	23.92%
3 years (2017-10-30)	10.49%
5 years (2015-10-30)	41.10%

Is Fortis under- or over-valued?

Valuing Fortis stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Fortis's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Fortis's P/E ratio

Fortis's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 20x. In other words, Fortis shares trade at around 20x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Fortis financials

Gross profit TTM	USD$3.8 billion
Return on assets TTM	2.95%
Return on equity TTM	7.04%
Profit margin	14.43%
Book value	$25.306
Market capitalisation	USD$19 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Fortis shares

There are currently 3.1 million Fortis shares held short by investors – that's known as Fortis's "short interest". This figure is 7.1% up from 2.9 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Fortis shares can be evaluated.

Fortis's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Fortis's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Fortis shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Fortis shares traded daily (recently around 340250.81256771). Fortis's SIR currently stands at 9.23. In other words for every 100,000 Fortis shares traded daily on the market, roughly 9230 shares are currently held short.

However Fortis's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Fortis shares, or, against the total number of tradable Fortis shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Fortis's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Fortis shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Fortis shares, roughly 0 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Fortis.

Find out more about how you can short Fortis stock.

Fortis's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Fortis.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Fortis's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 28.93

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Fortis's overall score of 28.93 (as at 10/01/2020) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 54th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Fortis is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Fortis's environmental score

Environmental score: 11.88/100

Fortis's environmental score of 11.88 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Fortis is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Fortis's social score

Social score: 7.05/100

Fortis's social score of 7.05 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Fortis is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Fortis's governance score

Governance score: 4/100

Fortis's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Fortis is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Fortis's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Fortis scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Fortis has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Fortis Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.

Total ESG score	28.93
Total ESG percentile	54
Environmental score	11.88
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	7.05
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	4
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

Fortis share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 56.49% of net profits

Recently Fortis has paid out, on average, around 56.49% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.72% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Fortis shareholders could enjoy a 3.72% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Fortis's case, that would currently equate to about $1.52 per share.

Fortis's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Fortis's most recent dividend payout was on 1 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 17 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Fortis's shares ever split?

Fortis's shares were split on a 4:1 basis on 14 October 2005. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 4 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Fortis shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 75% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Fortis shares which in turn could have impacted Fortis's share price.

Fortis share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Fortis's shares have ranged in value from as little as $28.59 up to $44.72. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Fortis's is 0.0604. This would suggest that Fortis's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Fortis overview

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 429,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 97,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,143 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,041,000 residential, commercial and industrial and transportation customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 568,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 140 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 66,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 269,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Fortis is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.564% of Fortis shares are held by insiders and 61.495% by institutions.

• How many people work for Fortis?

  Latest data suggests 9,000 work at Fortis.

• When does the fiscal year end for Fortis?

  Fortis's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Fortis based?

  Fortis's address is: Fortis Place, St. John's, NF, Canada, A1B 3T2

• What is Fortis's ISIN number?

  Fortis's international securities identification number is: US3495531077

• What is Fortis's CUSIP number?

  Fortis's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 349553107