Aviva PLC Raises Stake in Fortis $FTS

Aviva PLC grew its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,165,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,659 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $55,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,014,227,000 after purchasing an additional 542,749 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Fortis by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,474,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $642,076,000 after purchasing an additional 603,772 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.0% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,922,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,278,000 after buying an additional 1,683,377 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 218.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,303,000 after buying an additional 2,503,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Fortis by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,644,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $120,488,000 after buying an additional 44,208 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Desjardins raised Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS opened at $51.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.07. Fortis has a 12-month low of $40.32 and a 12-month high of $52.47. The firm has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.75%.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.