Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 5,750 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 54,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,750 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 53.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 7.0% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Walleye Trading LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $758,000. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $237,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of FTS opened at $45.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a market capitalization of $22.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.34.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FTS shares. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

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.