Clearbridge Investments LLC Raises Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 6.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,066,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 172,413 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $121,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 109,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,517,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 81,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,208,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 132,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,240,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.13.

Fortis Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $40.89. 612,304 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,485. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $43.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.04. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.66%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.43 billion. Equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

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.