Fortis $FTS Stock: Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Decreases Stake

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 7.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,211,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 259,163 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $170,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ethic Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 33,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 8,855 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Fortis by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 330,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,497,000 after purchasing an additional 21,729 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 31,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107 shares in the last quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 41,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Fortis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Friday. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut Fortis from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.67.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at $59.48 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.36 and its 200 day moving average is $56.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $30.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52 and a beta of 0.42. Fortis has a twelve month low of $49.99 and a twelve month high of $61.71.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 14.66%. Research analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 17th will be given a C$0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 17th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of C$0.64. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 71.65%.

Fortis Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian utility company that owns and operates regulated electric and natural gas businesses. Its activities include electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas distribution and energy infrastructure services.

The company serves customers across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean through a group of regional utilities. Its operations include electric utilities and natural gas businesses serving communities in provinces such as British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as U.S.