Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Fortis $FTS

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,246 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $632,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortis by 5.7% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,377 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 3.4% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 9,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New grew its stake in Fortis by 3.6% during the first quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 9,219 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Fortis by 2.0% during the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,070 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Fortis by 2.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,965 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $864,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Trading Up 0.5%

FTS opened at $51.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $50.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.60. 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 $51.75.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The firm 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.4448 dividend. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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