Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Acquires 36,037 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 240,725 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's holdings in Fortis were worth $9,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FTS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $182,242,000. Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 64.1% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 310,166 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,882,000 after acquiring an additional 121,149 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 72.8% in the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 759,384 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,534,000 after purchasing an additional 319,884 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 173,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 1.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $45.21. 1,045,389 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 630,426. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $48.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.75. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. Analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

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