Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Acquires 36,037 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 240,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Fortis were worth $9,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $46.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.74.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS 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 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.