Rhumbline Advisers Reduces Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 9.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,706 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Fortis were worth $616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortis by 123.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the first quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis in the first quarter valued at approximately $69,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $45.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.30 and a 200 day moving average of $40.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.30 and a 52-week high of $45.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.431 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 73.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on FTS. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $61.00.

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.