Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Takes $149,000 Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Fortis by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 33,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 3,967 shares during the period. Addison Capital Co boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.1% during the second quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 39,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its holdings in Fortis by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 25,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $985,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Fortis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Fortis by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 114,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,463,000 after acquiring an additional 14,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $41.16 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.75.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.05%.

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.