Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $47.20 Million Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,143,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,773 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $47,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Power Corp of Canada acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $96,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE:FTS opened at $38.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.42. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $46.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.94.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. Fortis’s 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.