Value Partners Investments Inc. Sells 98,973 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Value Partners Investments Inc. lowered its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 89.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 98,973 shares during the quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $46.59 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.76. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $48.07. 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 capitalization of $23.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.