GQG Partners LLC Trims Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

GQG Partners LLC lessened its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 132,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,564 shares during the quarter. GQG Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $902,656,000 after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Fortis by 21.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after buying an additional 930,331 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Fortis by 0.7% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,126,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $142,172,000 after acquiring an additional 22,411 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,330,000 after acquiring an additional 250,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,771,000 after acquiring an additional 223,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $43.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business 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 previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis has an average 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.