JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $128.06 Million Holdings in Fortis $FTS

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,523,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,631 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.50% of Fortis worth $128,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the first quarter valued at approximately $311,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 565,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,760,000 after acquiring an additional 90,776 shares in the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 1,064,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,707,000 after acquiring an additional 8,242 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Fortis by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 704,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,628,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 43,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 6,510 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, National Bank Financial reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of FTS stock opened at $56.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $28.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.03 and a 200-day moving average of $51.46. Fortis has a 12-month low of $43.19 and a 12-month high of $57.25.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.54 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.24%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 76.64%.

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.