QV Investors Inc. Acquires 60,380 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

QV Investors Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,074,643 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 60,380 shares during the quarter. Fortis comprises approximately 4.6% of QV Investors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. QV Investors Inc. owned about 0.22% of Fortis worth $44,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,006,000 after acquiring an additional 21,059 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,347,000 after buying an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,974,000 after buying an additional 15,605 shares during the period. Finally, Code Waechter LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the third quarter valued at approximately $838,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an "underperform" rating on the stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $40.71. 475,005 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,228. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $43.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.06. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.43%.

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.