Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. significantly increased its holdings in Fortis by 218.6% during the first quarter, ending with 3,648,592 shares valued at $166.3 million.
• Fortis has announced a quarterly dividend increase, raising it to $0.4448 per share, which equates to an annual yield of 3.6%.
• Fortis reported stronger-than-expected earnings in its most recent quarter, with an EPS of $0.55, surpassing estimates by $0.04.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 218.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.73% of Fortis worth $166,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 79.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,403 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,442,000 after purchasing an additional 153,416 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 114.7% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $858,000 after purchasing an additional 161,482 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 8.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 764,301 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,772,000 after purchasing an additional 11,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 119,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 12,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, CIBC raised Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.7%

NYSE:FTS traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.02. The company had a trading volume of 607,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,384. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.48. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $49.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.74. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.32 and a 12-month high of $51.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

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. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%.During the same period last year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.4448 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.