Canoe Financial LP Invests $376,000 in Fortis $FTS

Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Desjardins raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $48.85 on Friday. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.32 and a 12-month high of $51.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.4448 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 72.84%.

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.