Man Group plc Purchases Shares of 90,329 Fortis $FTS

Man Group plc bought a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 90,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,170,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,443 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in Fortis by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,545,000 after buying an additional 1,666,481 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 3.7% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,748,000 after buying an additional 326,212 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $445,335,000 after buying an additional 677,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortis by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,381,000 after buying an additional 372,377 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on Fortis from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research set a $50.00 target price on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Fortis from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.33.

Fortis Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:FTS opened at $54.69 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Fortis has a 1-year low of $48.64 and a 1-year high of $59.40.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 14.17%.The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.68%.

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.