Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 2,209,992 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 44.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,795,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,209,992 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.57% of Fortis worth $120,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new stake in Fortis during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,134,029,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at $104,121,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Fortis by 48.5% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,631,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,267 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in Fortis by 11.7% during the first quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,423,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $655,622,000 after purchasing an additional 1,613,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 6,692,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Fortis from $65.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on shares of Fortis from $61.50 to $60.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Fortis from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, September 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.93.

Fortis Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $40.38 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.80 and its 200 day moving average is $41.45. The company has a market cap of $19.72 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $46.28.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.437 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 16th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.93%.

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 443,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 102,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,328 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.