TD Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

TD Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 173,226 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 2.46% of Fortis worth $509,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.71. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

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.