Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 364,391 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 364,391 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 4.35% of Fortis worth $902,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,210 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,238,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in Fortis by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 151,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,286,000 after buying an additional 3,971 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 91,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,786,000 after buying an additional 3,193 shares during the period. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth $390,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of "Hold".

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Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $46.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 46,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 623,639. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. 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 simple moving average is $44.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.72.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Fortis 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.