Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $902,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,516,000 after acquiring an additional 73,682 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 11.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 15,605 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,830,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 847.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,548,000 after buying an additional 162,430 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE FTS opened at $45.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.