4,391,444 Shares in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,391,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $182,242,000. Norges Bank owned 0.88% of Fortis as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $46.24. 1,403,897 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 627,934. The company's 50 day moving average is $44.32 and its 200 day moving average is $43.77. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $48.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

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Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

About Fortis

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.