Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Bought by BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 131.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 159,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 90,348 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Fortis were worth $7,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,251 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at $237,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Fortis by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 134,740 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 224,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,738,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an "underperform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Reduce".

Fortis Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $44.87. The stock had a trading volume of 634,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,343. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm's 50-day moving average is $44.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.615 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

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.