CIBC Asset Management Inc Sells 256,774 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

CIBC Asset Management Inc reduced its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,670,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 256,774 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc owned approximately 0.74% of Fortis worth $152,373,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $61,516,000 after acquiring an additional 73,682 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 163.8% in 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. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after acquiring an additional 15,605 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth $2,830,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Fortis by 15.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

FTS opened at $44.81 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.32 and its 200 day moving average is $43.54.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

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

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.