Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $30.04 Million Stock Holdings in Fortis $FTS

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 577,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 33,043 shares during the quarter. Fortis makes up 0.6% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Fortis were worth $30,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,254,541,000 after buying an additional 536,118 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Fortis by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,531,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $686,518,000 after buying an additional 57,447 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,748,000 after buying an additional 326,212 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after buying an additional 677,226 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortis by 6.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $57.13 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.83. The company has a market cap of $29.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22 and a beta of 0.43. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 7.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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.