Fiera Capital Corp Lowers Stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Key Points

• Fiera Capital Corp reduced its stake in Fortis by 6.6%, now holding approximately 764,311 shares worth $34.85 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Fortis, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price increase from Royal Bank of Canada to $72.00.
• Fortis reported earnings of $0.70 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, despite revenue falling short at $2.31 billion compared to estimates of $3.42 billion.

Fiera Capital Corp lowered its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 764,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 53,710 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp owned approximately 0.15% of Fortis worth $34,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth $1,751,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Fortis by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,584 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Fortis during the first quarter valued at $864,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at about $289,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 31.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,017,000 after acquiring an additional 168,684 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of FTS traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $49.85. 1,030,841 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 541,241. The stock has a market cap of $25.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.46. The stock's 50-day moving average is $47.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.21. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $50.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 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 firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be issued a $0.4448 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. CIBC upgraded Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. TD Securities assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.