Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Position Lessened by Amundi

Amundi trimmed its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,413,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 180,584 shares during the period. Amundi’s holdings in Fortis were worth $58,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,728,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 724.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $44.42 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’s 50-day moving average is $43.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.66. The firm has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis 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.