Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 483,555 Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in Fortis by 7.4%, owning approximately 6.01 million shares, which represents 0.7% of its total holdings.
• Fortis announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.4448 per share, up from the previous $0.43, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.6%.
• Analysts have revised ratings for Fortis, with CIBC upgrading it to "sector outperform" and TD Securities issuing a "buy" rating, indicating positive market sentiment.

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 7.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,013,304 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 483,555 shares during the period. Fortis makes up approximately 0.7% of Bank of Nova Scotia's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 1.20% of Fortis worth $273,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Fortis by 42.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $184,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,394 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Fortis by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,068,000 after buying an additional 612,395 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.9% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,870,736 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $586,192,000 after acquiring an additional 604,615 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at $22,869,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FTS. Cibc World Mkts raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. CIBC raised Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Desjardins raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of FTS traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.41. The stock had a trading volume of 167,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 598,443. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.37. The firm has a market cap of $25.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a twelve month low of $40.32 and a twelve month high of $51.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is presently 73.25%.

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.