Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Has $5.35 Million Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 117,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,801 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Fortis by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 62,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,840,000 after acquiring an additional 16,763 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Fortis by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,126,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $142,172,000 after acquiring an additional 22,411 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 11.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after acquiring an additional 15,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTS. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $44.87 on Tuesday. 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 capitalization of $22.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.51. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted 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. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.615 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.48%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 76.47%.

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.