J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Purchases New Holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG has acquired a new position in Fortis, investing approximately $439,000 for 9,635 shares during the first quarter.
• Fortis recently reported better-than-expected earnings, with $0.55 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.51, and revenue of $2.03 billion exceeding expectations of $1.91 billion.
• The company has announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.4448 per share, reflecting a shift from the previous dividend of $0.43 and indicating a 3.5% dividend yield.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $439,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 111.7% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Fortis by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during 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 research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday. National Bankshares restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC raised Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Desjardins upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.44. 465,155 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 595,958. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week high of $51.45.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.4448 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.