Forsta AP Fonden Has $12.24 Million Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 94.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 294,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 143,400 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden owned 0.06% of Fortis worth $12,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Fortis during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth 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. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the third quarter worth $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.90. 94,647 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 371,515. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

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.