BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 44,866 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 186.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 68,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 44,866 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the first quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Fortis in the first quarter worth $69,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of FTS opened at $45.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.59 and a 200 day moving average of $40.90. The company has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.30 and a 52-week high of $45.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on FTS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th.

Fortis Company Profile

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.