CIBC Asset Management Inc Has $178.77 Million Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

CIBC Asset Management Inc lessened its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,926,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,043 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Fortis were worth $178,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Fortis by 31.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,259,000 after purchasing an additional 512,103 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortis by 2.3% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,151,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,164,000 after purchasing an additional 270,417 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 782,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,418,000 after buying an additional 233,743 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,072,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,049,000 after buying an additional 229,972 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Up 0.7 %

FTS stock opened at $44.29 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $22.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.09.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.55%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FTS shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Company 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.