Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 10.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 223,733 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $111,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Capital Co lifted its holdings in Fortis by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 39,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 52.2% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 3.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 22,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in Fortis during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 13.1% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Down 2.1 %

Fortis stock opened at $41.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

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.