Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 291,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $13,236,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.06% of Fortis at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the second quarter worth about $32,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FTS shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an "underperform" rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce".

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE:FTS traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $42.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 394,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,557. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business's 50-day moving average is $44.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.67. The company has a market capitalization of $21.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Fortis's payout ratio is 76.47%.

Fortis 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.