Fortis $FTS Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 512 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Fortis by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $864,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,751,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Fortis by 31.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,017,000 after purchasing an additional 168,684 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.3%

FTS opened at $50.58 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $51.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.