Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Acquires Shares of 161,899 Fortis $FTS

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA acquired a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 161,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,215,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 2.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,593,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,196,727,000 after buying an additional 568,326 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,531,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $686,518,000 after acquiring an additional 57,447 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,224,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,614,000 after acquiring an additional 345,633 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $291,400,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:FTS opened at $57.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis has a 52-week low of $43.28 and a 52-week high of $58.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.54 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.24%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 77.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.