Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Weaver Capital Management LLC

Weaver Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 15.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,367 shares during the quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.8% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 858,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,380,000 after acquiring an additional 83,858 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.2% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,938,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,955,000 after acquiring an additional 158,178 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 56.4% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 48,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 17,450 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.6% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 127,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,953,000 after acquiring an additional 12,235 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 155.3% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 86,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,354,000 after acquiring an additional 52,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.45. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $44.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.19.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.431 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th.

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.