Barclays PLC Raises Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 135.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,332 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Fortis by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $509,425,000 after purchasing an additional 173,226 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,614,000 after purchasing an additional 329,767 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at $182,242,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $48.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.31. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.15 and a 12-month high of $50.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 71.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Desjardins assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Company 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.