QV Investors Inc. Sells 2,920 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

QV Investors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 0.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,014,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,920 shares during the quarter. Fortis accounts for approximately 4.1% of QV Investors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. QV Investors Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $46,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,842,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $816,107,000 after acquiring an additional 421,120 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortis by 10.1% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its holdings in Fortis by 9.0% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 9.5% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 9,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 831 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th.

Fortis Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $44.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 78.02%.

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.