Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 5,844,951 Fortis $FTS

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,844,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $334,727,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.14% of Fortis at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Fortis by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after purchasing an additional 536,118 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 37.7% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 333,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,590,000 after purchasing an additional 91,219 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 4.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,241,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,966,121,000 after buying an additional 1,557,443 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 39.0% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,088,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,720,000 after buying an additional 305,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 103.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 48,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after buying an additional 24,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $55.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.56. Fortis has a 52-week low of $48.64 and a 52-week high of $59.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.62.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FTS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fortis from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.33.

Fortis 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.