6,462,155 Shares in Fortis $FTS Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 6,462,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,980,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.27% of Fortis as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Fortis by 4,662.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 986,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,244,000 after acquiring an additional 965,833 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Fortis by 60.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,508,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,270,000 after acquiring an additional 947,079 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,593,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,196,727,000 after acquiring an additional 568,326 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,381,000 after acquiring an additional 372,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,748,000 after acquiring an additional 326,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on FTS. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Fortis Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $54.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.73 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.25 and its 200-day moving average is $54.52.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The company had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.