Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 282 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $48.02 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.31. The stock has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.15 and a 1 year high of $50.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTS. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Desjardins began coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis 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.