Jones Financial Companies Lllp Increases Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 73,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,913 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during the fourth 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. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $44.36 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.64. The company has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.72 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on FTS. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.