Wellington Management Group LLP Increases Stock Position in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP has significantly increased its stake in Fortis, raising its position by 98.7% in the first quarter, now holding 90,281 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million.
• Fortis has announced a new quarterly dividend of $0.4448, up from its previous dividend of $0.43, reflecting a 3.6% yield.
• In its latest earnings report, Fortis beat expectations with $0.55 earnings per share on revenue of $2.03 billion, exceeding analysts' forecasts of $1.91 billion.

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 98.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 44,850 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in Fortis were worth $4,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 820 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Desjardins upgraded shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped 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. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, August 4th. CIBC upgraded shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Zacks Research cut Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:FTS traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.41. 190,465 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,622. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $40.32 and a fifty-two week high of $51.45. The company has a market capitalization of $24.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.38.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's payout ratio is 73.25%.

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.