Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 11,724 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 260,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,724 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Fortis worth $10,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at about $41,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortis during the third quarter worth about $96,000. Versor Investments LP lifted its stake in Fortis by 12.0% during the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 6,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 5.3% during the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS opened at $39.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.08 and a 200-day moving average of $39.98. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.00%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.13.

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.