Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Bought by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,339,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 125,447 shares during the period. Fortis accounts for about 1.5% of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned approximately 0.87% of Fortis worth $179,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in Fortis by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.59. 409,284 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 629,038. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.15 and a 1 year high of $48.94. The company has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $45.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.96.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed 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 assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company 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.