Purpose Unlimited Inc. Takes $3.35 Million Position in Fortis $FTS

Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 64,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,348,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortis by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after acquiring an additional 536,118 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its stake in Fortis by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666,481 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Fortis by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,531,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $686,518,000 after purchasing an additional 57,447 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,748,000 after purchasing an additional 326,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after purchasing an additional 677,226 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS opened at $56.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.89. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78. The company has a market capitalization of $28.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80 and a beta of 0.43.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 14.21%.The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Company Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.