Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Sells 874,107 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. lessened its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,147,541 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 874,107 shares during the quarter. Fortis makes up approximately 1.8% of Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned about 1.63% of Fortis worth $338,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth 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. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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Fortis Trading Down 0.3 %

FTS stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.99. 87,682 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 623,799. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.37. 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 has a market cap of $22.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $44.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.72.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Fortis's payout ratio is 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.