Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 22,770 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 219,910 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,770 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $9,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 77.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $180,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $902,656,000 after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 72.8% during the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 759,384 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,534,000 after buying an additional 319,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth about $12,238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold".

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Fortis Stock Performance

FTS traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.95. 60,748 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 643,474. The company's fifty day moving average price is $44.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.06 and a 52-week high of $48.08.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Fortis's payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

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.