Nexus Investment Management ULC Buys 1,240 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 79,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares during the quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Fortis by 22.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 9.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.1% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 26,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 45.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 510,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,266,000 after purchasing an additional 159,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 32.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 212,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,540,000 after purchasing an additional 52,248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.18% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $41.66. The company had a trading volume of 52,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 580,535. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $46.28. The stock has a market cap of $20.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.09.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. Fortis had a return on equity of 6.68% and a net margin of 12.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 21st were issued a $0.427 dividend. This represents a $1.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 75.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Fortis from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Fortis from $61.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.21.

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 443,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 102,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,328 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.