1832 Asset Management L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 95,813 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $357,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,087,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Fortis by 14.5% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 65,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after buying an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Fortis by 31.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,259,000 after buying an additional 512,103 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Fortis by 22.9% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 2,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Fortis by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,006,000 after buying an additional 21,059 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS opened at $44.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $45.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The business 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.431 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 73.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on FTS shares. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

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.