K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Grows Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 21.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Fortis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,126,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $142,172,000 after purchasing an additional 22,411 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,330,000 after buying an additional 250,630 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,771,000 after buying an additional 223,733 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $43.91 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.56 and a 200-day moving average of $43.62. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 71.61%.

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.