Gold Investment Management Ltd. Acquires 1,430 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,430 shares during the quarter. Fortis makes up about 1.2% of Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.92 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.20 and a 200-day moving average of $43.68. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The stock has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Fortis’s 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.