Greenland Capital Management LP Acquires New Shares in Fortis $FTS

Greenland Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 65,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,751,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $311,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 19.1% in 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 buying an additional 90,776 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 148.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Fortis by 3.4% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 33,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Fortis by 4.4% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 10,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTS. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Fortis from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.33.

Fortis Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of FTS stock opened at $54.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.58. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $48.64 and a fifty-two week high of $59.40.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.16%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.68%.

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.