Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Raises Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 485,110 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,279 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. owned approximately 0.10% of Fortis worth $20,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 11.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,974,000 after buying an additional 15,605 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,830,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $170,230,000 after acquiring an additional 507,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Fortis by 847.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,548,000 after acquiring an additional 162,430 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

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Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $44.92. The company had a trading volume of 390,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 558,513. The firm has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.71. 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.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on 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 assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.