Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 223,733 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.48% of Fortis worth $111,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after buying an additional 1,920,728 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Fortis by 21.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,259,000 after purchasing an additional 512,103 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 413.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 395,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,973,000 after purchasing an additional 318,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $41.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.76. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 76.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

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.