Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Purchases 95,000 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 69.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 231,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,000 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $9,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new stake in Fortis during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,134,029,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Fortis by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,872,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $678,990,000 after purchasing an additional 675,957 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Fortis by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,423,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,888 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Fortis by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,519,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $381,167,000 after purchasing an additional 58,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 7,418,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $319,176,000 after acquiring an additional 100,467 shares in the last quarter. 50.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $40.26 on Tuesday. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $46.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.437 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 16th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 72.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on FTS. StockNews.com lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 31st. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price target on Fortis from $61.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Fortis from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Fortis from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.93.

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 443,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 102,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,328 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.