BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 186.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 44,866 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 53.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 123.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Gold Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 81,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $45.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $45.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

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.