Federated Hermes Inc. Has $10.70 Million Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 260,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,724 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $10,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter worth $41,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter worth $96,000. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Fortis in the fourth quarter worth $254,000. Versor Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 12.0% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 6,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at $39.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.42. 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.98.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The business 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.4382 dividend. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Fortis 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.