Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Trims Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. decreased its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 7.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 101,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,674 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its position in Fortis by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 3,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 10,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortis by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Fortis by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 13,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.13.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE:FTS opened at $38.76 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.30 and a fifty-two week high of $43.84. The stock has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.72.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.43 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.66% and a return on equity of 7.02%. Analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.