Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Louisbourg Investments Inc.

Louisbourg Investments Inc. reduced its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,597 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 17,086 shares during the period. Louisbourg Investments Inc.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 724.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in Fortis by 52.2% during 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 in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,646,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,661. The firm has a market cap 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 company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.51.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

Fortis Company 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.