Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 290,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,618 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. owned 0.06% of Fortis worth $13,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,751,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 1,638 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Fortis by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 533,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $22,188,000 after buying an additional 36,587 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,584 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $864,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. TD Securities began coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Desjardins assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.6%

FTS traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $47.15. 558,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 616,426. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis has a one year low of $39.36 and a one year high of $50.06. The company's fifty day moving average price is $47.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.43. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect 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.