Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Purchases Shares of 7,064 Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,064 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 364,391 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $509,425,000 after acquiring an additional 173,226 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $182,242,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Fortis by 9.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $131,330,000 after purchasing an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortis by 10.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $111,771,000 after purchasing an additional 223,733 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

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Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.66. The stock had a trading volume of 65,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 636,636. The firm has a market cap of $23.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.77. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year 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.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

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.