Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires New Stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,567 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 91,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,786,000 after purchasing an additional 3,193 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,210 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 240,725 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,998,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth about $294,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. TD Securities began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Desjardins started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $49.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,030,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 541,241. Fortis has a one year low of $40.32 and a one year high of $50.56. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $25.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 7.08%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's payout ratio is presently 75.11%.

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.