Lindbrook Capital LLC Acquires 758 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 38.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Fortis by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,728,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS opened at $44.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.65. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

About Fortis

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.