Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Purchases 512,103 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 31.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 512,103 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.43% of Fortis worth $83,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Fortis by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 490,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,185,000 after acquiring an additional 54,417 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $120,880,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Fortis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 194,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,007,000 after purchasing an additional 26,860 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its position in Fortis by 269.3% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 53,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 38,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 43,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after buying an additional 6,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $22.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.08 and its 200 day moving average is $40.71. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.30 and a 52 week high of $45.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.04% and a net margin of 13.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a $0.431 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 73.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America began coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

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.