DGS Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

DGS Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Power Corp of Canada bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Fortis by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $96,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $37.14 on Wednesday. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.30 and a 52-week high of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.96.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.13.

Fortis 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.