Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,407,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.28% of Fortis worth $64,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 5.7% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,452,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.0% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS opened at $50.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $25.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $40.32 and a fifty-two week high of $51.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $48.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.74.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.4448 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.