First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 910 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 13.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Fortis by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Fortis by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,259,000 after acquiring an additional 512,103 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortis by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,151,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,164,000 after acquiring an additional 270,417 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 782,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,418,000 after acquiring an additional 233,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,072,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,049,000 after acquiring an additional 229,972 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $42.79 on Monday. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.47.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.75%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTS shares. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock.

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.