Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,037,115 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,862,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,037,115 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 1.17% of Fortis worth $243,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTS. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 36.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 62,495 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,840,000 after purchasing an additional 16,763 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth $44,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the third quarter valued at $272,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Fortis by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 43,854 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,995,000 after buying an additional 6,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth about $13,236,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Trading Up 1.4 %

Fortis stock traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $47.16. The stock had a trading volume of 139,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 636,530. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G 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. 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 50-day simple moving average of $44.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.76.

Remove Ads

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.