Value Partners Investments Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Value Partners Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 89.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,181 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 98,973 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $672,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Fortis by 135.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,542 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 4,332 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in Fortis by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 48,316 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $379,614,000 after buying an additional 329,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,751,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FTS traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $48.16. The stock had a trading volume of 668,501 shares, compared to its average volume of 636,647. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.09 and a 1 year high of $48.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock's 50 day moving average is $45.05 and its 200 day moving average is $43.86. The firm has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released 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 posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

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.