K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Buys New Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 12,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 29,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 111.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 91,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 260,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,699,000 after acquiring an additional 11,724 shares during the period. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.06. 518,666 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 669,297. The company has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.09 and its 200 day moving average is $39.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.30 and a 12-month high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.13.

Fortis 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.