TD Asset Management Inc Increases Stake in Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Fortis by 4.7% during the second quarter, now holding 13.47 million shares valued at approximately $642 million.
• Fortis recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.4448, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.43 and yielding 3.5% annually.
• Research firms have positively adjusted their ratings on Fortis, with several upgrading it to a "buy" rating, and the average target price now stands at $72.00.

TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,474,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 603,772 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned 2.68% of Fortis worth $642,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 286.7% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 111.7% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $50.87 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.46. The stock has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $40.32 and a fifty-two week high of $51.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid 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 was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on FTS. Desjardins raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. CIBC raised Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. National Bankshares reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.00.

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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