Andra AP fonden Makes New $1.17 Million Investment in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Andra AP fonden bought a new stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 30,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,169,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,072,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $793,049,000 after purchasing an additional 229,972 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,477,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $801,263,000 after acquiring an additional 4,924,031 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Fortis by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $553,145,000 after acquiring an additional 2,438,223 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Fortis by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,103,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $359,669,000 after acquiring an additional 79,519 shares during the period. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortis by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 7,848,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $322,244,000 after purchasing an additional 124,197 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $45.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.30 and a 52 week high of $45.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.44.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. Research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.431 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th.

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.