Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Stock Holdings Boosted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 2.5%, holding over 22 million shares, valued at approximately $1.01 billion as of the latest SEC filing.
• Fortis reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.55, surpassing analysts' expectations, and announced an increase in its dividend to $0.4448 per share.
• Equity analysts have set a new average target price of $72.00 for Fortis, indicating a mixed outlook with ratings ranging from sell to strong buy.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 542,749 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 4.44% of Fortis worth $1,014,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $184,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,068,000 after acquiring an additional 612,395 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.9% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,870,736 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $586,192,000 after acquiring an additional 604,615 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth $22,869,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 151.9% during the 1st quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 440,370 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $20,062,000 after buying an additional 265,570 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FTS shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Desjardins upgraded Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, CIBC upgraded Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS stock traded up $0.29 on Thursday, reaching $50.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 452,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 596,552. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week high of $51.45. The company has a market capitalization of $25.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.69. 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 (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, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.25%.

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.