Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Decreases Stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,977 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 13,887 shares during the period. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $6,517,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth $1,751,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings 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 worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter worth $864,000. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth $289,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,017,000 after purchasing an additional 168,684 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Desjardins initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.26. 564,938 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 615,418. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.12 and a 12-month high of $50.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.65. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.