Addison Capital Co Grows Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Addison Capital Co grew its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,263 shares during the period. Addison Capital Co’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during 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 period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note 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 assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $44.92 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.68. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

About Fortis

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.