K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Purchases Shares of 12,881 Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 111.2% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 12.0% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 6,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE FTS traded down $0.26 on Friday, hitting $39.06. 518,666 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 669,297. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.30 and a 52-week high of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.96.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.37 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.