Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Toronto Dominion Bank

Toronto Dominion Bank decreased its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,605,721 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,465,763 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned about 1.13% of Fortis worth $254,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,151,327 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $472,164,000 after buying an additional 270,417 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $357,291,000 after acquiring an additional 95,813 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Fortis by 21.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $235,839,000 after purchasing an additional 930,331 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Fortis by 4.2% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,938,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $152,955,000 after purchasing an additional 158,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Fortis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Down 0.9 %

Fortis stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.21. 184,513 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,705. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The firm has a market cap of $21.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.49. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $44.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.64.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 4.06%. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 76.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FTS. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an "underperform" rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis has an average rating of "Reduce".

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.