Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 250,630 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $131,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings 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 valued at $472,164,000 after purchasing an additional 270,417 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Fortis by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,291,000 after buying an additional 95,813 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during 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. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Fortis by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on FTS. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $41.57 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.89. The company has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.05%.

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.