Bank of New York Mellon Corp Raises Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 533,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 36,587 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.11% of Fortis worth $22,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 724.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortis during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter valued at $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

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Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $44.92. 500,862 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 565,463. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $43.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.67.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 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 net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current 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 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 dividend yield of 3.85%. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

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.