Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Stock Position Decreased by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC reduced its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,543 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 109,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,517,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 10,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Fortis by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.13.

Fortis Stock Performance

Fortis stock opened at $41.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.43. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.30 and a fifty-two week high of $46.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.97.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.66% and a return on equity of 7.02%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

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.