Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Purchases 84,208 Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. increased its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 291.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 113,060 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 84,208 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $509,425,000 after purchasing an additional 173,226 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $379,614,000 after purchasing an additional 329,767 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Fortis by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $258,068,000 after purchasing an additional 612,395 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Fortis by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $184,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. TD Securities assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, June 27th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Desjardins began coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $46.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 406,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,111. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.62. Fortis has a 12-month low of $39.74 and a 12-month high of $50.06. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.