Korea Investment CORP Raises Position in Fortis $FTS

Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 403,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,866 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Fortis were worth $20,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Fortis by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 23,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 6,722 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.1% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 657,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,343,000 after purchasing an additional 60,088 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.7% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.2% during the third quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 274,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,943,000 after purchasing an additional 8,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $57.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Fortis has a one year low of $43.28 and a one year high of $58.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.33 and a 200 day moving average of $52.03.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.24%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 77.05%.

About Fortis

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.