Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Stock Position Reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,413,781 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 476,403 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.48% of Fortis worth $100,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $902,656,000 after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Fortis by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $509,425,000 after buying an additional 173,226 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Fortis by 21.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $235,839,000 after buying an additional 930,331 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 10.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $111,771,000 after acquiring an additional 223,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,402,045 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $58,230,000 after acquiring an additional 49,560 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:FTS traded down $0.95 on Monday, reaching $45.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,045,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 630,426. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.36 and a 200 day moving average of $43.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $22.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $48.07.

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 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 firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Fortis's dividend 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.