Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,147,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 874,107 shares during the period. Fortis accounts for about 1.8% of Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned approximately 1.63% of Fortis worth $338,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $902,656,000 after buying an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $509,425,000 after acquiring an additional 173,226 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at about $182,242,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Fortis by 9.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,330,000 after purchasing an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $45.23 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.72. The firm has a market cap of $22.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus 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.