1832 Asset Management L.P. Has $400.83 Million Stock Holdings in Fortis $FTS

1832 Asset Management L.P. trimmed its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,397,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 356,277 shares during the quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. owned 1.67% of Fortis worth $400,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in Fortis by 3.4% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 9,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.6% in the first quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 9,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Fortis by 2.0% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP grew its position in shares of Fortis by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 19,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FTS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note 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 restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of FTS stock opened at $51.75 on Wednesday. Fortis has a 52-week low of $40.32 and a 52-week high of $52.83. The stock has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $51.14 and its 200-day moving average is $49.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.05% and a net margin of 14.18%. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 75.83%.

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.