NBC Securities Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 158,500.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,585 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $72,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Fortis by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 149,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,194,000 after acquiring an additional 12,430 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its position in shares of Fortis by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 27,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Fortis by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 533,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,188,000 after acquiring an additional 36,587 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $47.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $23.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.91. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.15 and a 12-month high of $50.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. Desjardins started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

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.