AGF Management Ltd. Invests $699,000 in Fortis $FTS

AGF Management Ltd. bought a new position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $699,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,017,000 after acquiring an additional 168,684 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Fortis by 13.9% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Fortis by 4.4% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 32,664 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 291.9% in the 1st quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 113,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,149,000 after purchasing an additional 84,208 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FTS shares. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS stock opened at $51.84 on Wednesday. Fortis has a 1-year low of $40.32 and a 1-year high of $52.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.12. The company has a market capitalization of $26.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.33, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. 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 (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.83%.

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.