Barclays PLC Sells 16,471 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Barclays PLC lowered its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 83.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,471 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,006,000 after purchasing an additional 21,059 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,516,000 after acquiring an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,347,000 after acquiring an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,974,000 after acquiring an additional 15,605 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 56.4% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 48,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 17,450 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Stock Performance

Fortis stock opened at $41.82 on Wednesday. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $20.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.26 and its 200 day moving average is $43.01.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.47%.

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.