Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 462,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 853 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. owned about 0.09% of Fortis worth $21,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 123.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Fortis in the second quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 52.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $44.83. The company had a trading volume of 398,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,675. The business has a 50 day moving average of $44.35 and a 200-day moving average of $42.41. The company has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.615 dividend. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FTS. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America began coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Company 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.