Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC cut its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 41.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 490,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 344,638 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.10% of Fortis worth $22,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fortis in the 1st quarter valued at $237,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 123.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 0.9% during the second quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 224,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,738,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Fortis by 13.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 33,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 3,967 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $638,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded down $0.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.48. 618,202 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 716,727. The company has a market cap of $22.12 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.56. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an "underperform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce".

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.