JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Increases Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd grew its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,712 shares during the quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Fortis were worth $931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Desjardins initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at $48.02 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.15 and a 52-week high of $50.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.73%.

About Fortis

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.