PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab Grows Stock Holdings in Fortis $FTS

PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab grew its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,728 shares during the period. PensionDanmark Pensionsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in Fortis were worth $9,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,121,000 after buying an additional 1,557,443 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after buying an additional 536,118 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Fortis by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,545,000 after buying an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 3.7% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,748,000 after acquiring an additional 326,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after acquiring an additional 677,226 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fortis from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.33.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at $56.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.56. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $48.64 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.35. The company has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 0.43.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 14.17%.The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.87%.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.