Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires Shares of 55,042 Fortis $FTS

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 55,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,630,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in Fortis in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in Fortis in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Fortis by 157.3% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in Fortis in the second quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth $135,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Desjardins upgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, CIBC reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $52.27 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $26.42 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis has a one year low of $40.32 and a one year high of $52.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.02). Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.83%.

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.