DGS Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 55.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,130 shares during the quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Fortis during the second quarter valued at $32,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth $44,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the second quarter valued at about $80,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $149,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.42. The stock had a trading volume of 30,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,697. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.67. The firm has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a PE ratio of 17.78, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 76.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a report 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.

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.