Clear Creek Financial Management LLC Makes New $203,000 Investment in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 4,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 52.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of FTS opened at $42.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $46.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.34. The firm has a market cap of $21.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 79.41%.

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.