Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Position Increased by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,628 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.06% of Fortis worth $12,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 77.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,686,000 after buying an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Fortis by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,878,000 after buying an additional 1,316,394 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in Fortis by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,068,000 after buying an additional 612,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $22,869,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Desjardins started coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $48.32 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.15 and a fifty-two week high of $50.06. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $46.98 and its 200-day moving average is $44.59.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.