Community Financial Services Group LLC Has $273,000 Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Community Financial Services Group LLC cut its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,570 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 8,458 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC's holdings in Fortis were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTS. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,728,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 94.8% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 294,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,235,000 after buying an additional 143,400 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.81. 7,646,555 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,661. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $42.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Fortis's payout ratio is 79.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FTS shares. Raymond James cut Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday. They issued 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.