CIBC Asset Management Inc Reduces Position in Fortis $FTS

CIBC Asset Management Inc lowered its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 22.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,922,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 855,972 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc owned about 0.58% of Fortis worth $139,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $291,400,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 218.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,303,000 after buying an additional 2,503,531 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the first quarter worth $54,838,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 18.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,414,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,828,000 after acquiring an additional 849,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,025,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,099,399,000 after acquiring an additional 759,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. CIBC restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:FTS opened at $50.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.23 and a 200-day moving average of $49.63. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week high of $52.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.02). Fortis had a return on equity of 7.05% and a net margin of 14.18%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.83%.

About Fortis

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.