D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $2.82 Million Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 40.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 45,566 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fortis by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Fortis by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,614,000 after acquiring an additional 329,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE FTS opened at $47.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $23.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.15 and a 12 month high of $50.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.75 and a 200-day moving average of $44.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Desjardins began coverage on Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.