Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Takes Position in Fortis $FTS

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA bought a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 161,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,215,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 7.0% during the second quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 101,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,846,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.4% during the second quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 794,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,955,000 after purchasing an additional 236,347 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 172.5% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 20,889 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Fortis by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,224,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,614,000 after buying an additional 345,633 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:FTS opened at $57.58 on Wednesday. Fortis has a 1 year low of $43.28 and a 1 year high of $58.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $54.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Fortis Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector 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. Finally, TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

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.