Bank of Montreal Can Cuts Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,375,228 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 2,050,366 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 4.88% of Fortis worth $1,011,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $365,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 986,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,923,000 after acquiring an additional 17,402 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Fortis by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 10,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Fortis Stock Up 3.0 %

NYSE:FTS traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 630,236 shares, compared to its average volume of 637,685. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $23.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $48.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.77.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS 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 given 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 3.71%. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of 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 given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis 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.