Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Fortis $FTS

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,593,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 372,377 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.30% of Fortis worth $357,381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 5,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 4,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Fortis by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 18,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $932,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Fortis by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 48,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,313,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FTS shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, February 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Fortis Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $54.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.25 and a 200 day moving average of $54.52. The firm has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 0.45. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78.

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

Fortis Company 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.