DGS Capital Management LLC Acquires 7,130 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 55.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,130 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Fortis by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,006,000 after acquiring an additional 21,059 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Fortis by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,938,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,955,000 after acquiring an additional 158,178 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 858,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,380,000 after purchasing an additional 83,858 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 5.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 163.8% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,347,000 after purchasing an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $42.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 30,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,697. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.67. The company has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James cut shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock.

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.