Public Sector Pension Investment Board Lowers Position in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board significantly reduced its stake in Fortis by 98.6%, selling over 3.3 million shares in the first quarter, leaving them with a total of 48,248 shares valued at approximately $2.2 million.
• Fortis reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.55, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.51 and generating revenues of $2.03 billion.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.4448, reflecting a boost in its yield to 3.5% from the previous $0.43 dividend.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board cut its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 98.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,307,200 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Fortis were worth $2,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Fortis by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,584 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $773,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter valued at about $864,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,751,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $289,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 31.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,017,000 after buying an additional 168,684 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $50.8340 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.96. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week 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 EPS 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 analyst estimates 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 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on FTS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Desjardins raised shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

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.

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