Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Sells 325 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after buying an additional 15,605 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,830,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 847.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,548,000 after acquiring an additional 162,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 9.5% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.71. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.