Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Holdings Cut by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp lowered its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 24.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,577 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fortis by 286.7% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 111.7% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.3%

Fortis stock opened at $47.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis has a 1 year low of $39.74 and a 1 year high of $50.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $47.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.62.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 7.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. Desjardins started coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, TD Securities started coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, June 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

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.