Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Acquires 27,530 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Gulf International Bank UK Ltd significantly increased its stake in Fortis by 2,841.1%, owning 28,499 shares after purchasing 27,530 more in the first quarter, valued at approximately $1.3 million.
• Fortis reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.55 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.51, alongside a reported revenue of $2.03 billion.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.4448 per share, raising its annualized dividend yield to 3.5% from the previous $0.43.

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 2,841.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,499 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,530 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd's holdings in Fortis were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $16,215,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.0% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,922,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $224,278,000 after buying an additional 1,683,377 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 794,091 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $36,195,000 after buying an additional 29,790 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,407,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $64,096,000 after buying an additional 5,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,014,227,000 after buying an additional 542,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS traded down $0.0190 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $50.8310. The company had a trading volume of 63,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $25.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a twelve month low of $40.32 and a twelve month high of $51.45. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $48.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.96.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.4448 dividend. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Fortis's payout ratio is 73.25%.

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.