Cerity Partners LLC Has $451,000 Stock Position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 13.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Fortis by 111.7% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 158,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Fortis by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Fortis by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $49.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.94. Fortis has a 52-week low of $40.32 and a 52-week high of $50.06.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Securities began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Desjardins began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

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.