Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Holdings Lifted by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,430 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $6,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth 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, Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 52.2% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FTS shares. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Stock Performance

FTS opened at $44.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 79.41%.

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.