Shell Asset Management Co. Grows Stock Position in Fortis $FTS

Shell Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,577 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at about $289,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at about $864,000. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 158,500.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at about $393,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of FTS opened at $50.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Fortis has a 1 year low of $40.32 and a 1 year high of $51.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.27. The firm has a market cap of $25.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.4448 per share. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on FTS. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Saturday, September 27th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” 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.