Invesco Ltd. Sells 24,234 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has reduced its stake in Fortis by 1.8%, selling 24,234 shares, and now holds about 1,335,406 shares valued at approximately $60.87 million.
• Fortis reported an EPS of $0.55 for the last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.51, alongside a revenue of $2.03 billion which exceeded analyst predictions.
• The company has declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.4448, representing an annual yield of 3.5%, set to be paid on September 1st.

Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,335,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 24,234 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.27% of Fortis worth $60,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 111.7% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 100.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FTS. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE:FTS traded down $0.0590 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $50.7910. The stock had a trading volume of 461,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,061. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $51.45.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion for 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.4448 dividend. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is 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.