Fortis $FTS Shares Purchased by Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 171.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 119,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 75,259 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the second quarter worth approximately $291,400,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 218.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Fortis by 52.0% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,922,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,278,000 after buying an additional 1,683,377 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in Fortis during the 1st quarter worth about $54,838,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,414,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $262,828,000 after acquiring an additional 849,606 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.2%

FTS stock opened at $52.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $51.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.42. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week high of $52.83. The company has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.83%.

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.