Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 0.4% during Q1, holding approximately 1.4 million shares valued at $64 million.
• Fortis declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4448, reflecting a positive change and providing a dividend yield of 3.5%, with a payout ratio of 73.25%.
• The stock of Fortis has a market cap of $25.56 billion, with recent trading volumes showing 594,006 shares exchanged at a price of $50.76.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,407,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.28% of Fortis worth $64,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in Fortis in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 286.7% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 111.7% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 158,500.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. CIBC upgraded shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $50.11. 42,857 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 592,866. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.32 and a 12-month high of $51.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $48.34 and a 200-day moving average of $46.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.4448 dividend. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.84%.

Fortis Company 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.