Fortis $FTS Shares Sold by Davis Rea LTD.

Davis Rea LTD. trimmed its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 1.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 163,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,026 shares during the period. Fortis comprises approximately 1.9% of Davis Rea LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $7,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTS. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Desjardins raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Fortis from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Trading Up 2.0%

Fortis stock opened at $51.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.97 and its 200-day moving average is $48.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58. Fortis has a 1 year low of $40.32 and a 1 year high of $51.45. The company has a market cap of $25.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. 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 year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were given a $0.4448 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.25%.

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.