Barclays PLC Sells 16,471 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Barclays PLC lessened its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 83.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,210 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,471 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC's holdings in Fortis were worth $146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 56.4% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 48,399 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 17,450 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $948,000. Andra AP fonden acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,169,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 6.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 87,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,384,000 after buying an additional 5,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 28.1% during the second quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 10,695 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 2,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE FTS traded up $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.95. 320,226 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 355,642. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $43.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James cut Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an "underperform" rating for the company.

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.