PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 793 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 27.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 793 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $86,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,728,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.71. The company has a market cap of $22.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Company 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.