Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $4.32 Million Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,246 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Fortis were worth $4,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTS. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortis by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 26,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 510,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,266,000 after purchasing an additional 159,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 212,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,540,000 after purchasing an additional 52,248 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.13.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE FTS opened at $38.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.67. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.30 and a 52 week high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

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.