Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Stock Position Trimmed by Investment Management Corp of Ontario

Investment Management Corp of Ontario lowered its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Fortis were worth $999,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Fortis by 123.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Fortis during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS opened at $44.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FTS shares. Bank of America initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.