Cidel Asset Management Inc. Purchases 19,351 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 2.1%, owning a total of 937,252 shares, which represents 2.7% of its investment portfolio.
• Fortis declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4448 per share, up from the previous $0.43, translating to an annualized yield of 3.4%.
• Fortis reported quarterly earnings of $0.55 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, and had a revenue of $2.03 billion against a forecast of $1.91 billion.

Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 937,252 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 19,351 shares during the quarter. Fortis accounts for 2.7% of Cidel Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cidel Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.19% of Fortis worth $44,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Fortis by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,014,227,000 after purchasing an additional 542,749 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,474,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $642,076,000 after acquiring an additional 603,772 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,683,377 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,644,691 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $120,488,000 after acquiring an additional 44,208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Stock Up 0.5%

FTS stock opened at $51.70 on Friday. Fortis has a 1-year low of $40.32 and a 1-year high of $51.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.59. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Desjardins upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.00.

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.

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