Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Acquired by K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Fortis by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 533,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,188,000 after acquiring an additional 36,587 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its holdings in Fortis by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 27,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Fortis by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 149,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,194,000 after purchasing an additional 12,430 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,728,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on FTS shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:FTS opened at $43.91 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.61%.

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.