Bank of Montreal Can Reduces Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Bank of Montreal Can cut its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,375,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,050,366 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 4.88% of Fortis worth $1,011,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Fortis by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $46.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $48.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.75. The firm has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

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.