Addenda Capital Inc. Increases Stake in Fortis $FTS

Addenda Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 6.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 184,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,556 shares during the quarter. Addenda Capital Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $8,828,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortis by 5.7% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 9,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 9,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Fortis by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its holdings in Fortis by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 19,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CIBC upgraded Fortis from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, August 4th. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Desjardins raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $49.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $51.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.01.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders 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 a boost 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.