Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Canoe Financial LP

Canoe Financial LP reduced its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,476 shares during the quarter. Canoe Financial LP’s holdings in Fortis were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 21.8% in the 3rd 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Fortis by 31.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,259,000 after buying an additional 512,103 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position 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 buying an additional 507,068 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP lifted its stake in Fortis by 413.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 395,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,973,000 after buying an additional 318,474 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FTS. Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock.

Fortis Stock Up 0.5 %

FTS opened at $41.98 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released 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. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

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.