Louisbourg Investments Inc. Has $3.46 Million Stake in Fortis $FTS

Louisbourg Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 47.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,254 shares during the quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter worth approximately $864,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Fortis by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 702,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,017,000 after buying an additional 168,684 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 13.9% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 0.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,407,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 218.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on FTS shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday. Desjardins raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. CIBC raised shares of Fortis from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 2.0%

Fortis stock opened at $51.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a twelve month low of $40.32 and a twelve month high of $51.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.97 and a 200-day moving average of $48.37.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a $0.4448 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.25%.

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.