Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Guardian Capital LP

Guardian Capital LP trimmed its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 758,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,630 shares during the quarter. Fortis comprises approximately 1.2% of Guardian Capital LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Guardian Capital LP owned approximately 0.15% of Fortis worth $31,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $149,000. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fortis by 55.1% in the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 20,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 7,130 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Fortis by 9.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,330,000 after acquiring an additional 250,630 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QV Investors Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 1,074,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,631,000 after purchasing an additional 60,380 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $48.82 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $24.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.15 and a 1-year high of $48.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.08.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.