Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 42,122 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,751,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Fortis by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $48.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.15 and a 52-week high of $49.65.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of "Hold".

Fortis Company 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.

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