Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Shares Purchased by Gold Investment Management Ltd.

Gold Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,247 shares during the quarter. Fortis accounts for approximately 1.4% of Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Fortis by 158,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 100.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FTS shares. Desjardins assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, TD Securities started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Friday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $47.16 on Friday. Fortis has a 1 year low of $38.50 and a 1 year high of $50.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.14. The company has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

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.