DGS Capital Management LLC Acquires 524 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Power Corp of Canada acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth $31,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Fortis by 78.7% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE FTS opened at $37.14 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.96. The stock has a market cap of $18.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.30 and a 12-month high of $46.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.00%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.13.

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.