Canoe Financial LP Invests $376,000 in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP invested approximately $376,000 in Fortis, acquiring 7,863 shares in the 2nd quarter according to a recent SEC filing.
• Fortis has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.4448 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.6%.
• The company reported earnings of $0.55 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations and achieving revenues of $2.03 billion.

Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,014,227,000 after buying an additional 542,749 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,870,736 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $586,192,000 after buying an additional 604,615 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 52.0% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,922,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $224,278,000 after buying an additional 1,683,377 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 218.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $166,303,000 after buying an additional 2,503,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,644,691 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $120,488,000 after buying an additional 44,208 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $48.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58. Fortis has a one year low of $40.32 and a one year high of $51.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.78.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 72.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC upgraded shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

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.

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