Bollard Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Fortis $FTS

Bollard Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 149,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,765 shares during the period. Bollard Group LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $7,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position 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 buying an additional 57,447 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,163,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,748,000 after buying an additional 326,212 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after acquiring an additional 677,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,381,000 after acquiring an additional 372,377 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $56.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $28.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49. Fortis has a 1 year low of $46.46 and a 1 year high of $58.78.

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