Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Boosts 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. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 218.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.73% of Fortis worth $166,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Fortis by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,403 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,442,000 after buying an additional 153,416 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 114.7% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $858,000 after acquiring an additional 161,482 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position 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 valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Fortis by 1.5% in the 4th 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 boosted its stake in Fortis by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 119,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 12,871 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FTS. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, CIBC raised Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $48.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $40.32 and a fifty-two week high of $51.45.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for 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 company earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

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

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