Baillie Gifford & Co. Grows Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 278,881 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 44,495 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.06% of Fortis worth $12,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 123.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 0.5% during the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,253,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Addison Capital Co lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an "underperform" rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded down $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $44.00. The company had a trading volume of 272,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 700,867. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.59%. This is a boost from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.85%.

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.