GQG Partners LLC Cuts Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

GQG Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,564 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI raised 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 worth $235,839,000 after purchasing an additional 930,331 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $902,656,000 after buying an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 413.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 395,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,973,000 after acquiring an additional 318,474 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,238,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Fortis during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,236,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Stock Down 0.2 %

FTS stock opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.65 and a 200 day moving average of $43.71.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Fortis 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.