Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 1,853,082 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 77.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.85% of Fortis worth $180,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 36.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 62,495 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,840,000 after purchasing an additional 16,763 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $272,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 43,854 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 6,779 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth $13,236,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Up 3.0 %

Fortis stock traded up $1.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $46.59. The stock had a trading volume of 630,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 637,685. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $48.07. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $44.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

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Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.