62,283 Shares in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Bought by Unigestion Holding SA

Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 62,283 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,830,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Addison Capital Co boosted its holdings in Fortis by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 39,391 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,530,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 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 last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 22,817 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Stock Down 1.2 %

FTS traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.07. 459,164 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,890. The company has a market cap of $21.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $44.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.67.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is currently 76.47%.

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.