Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. Buys Shares of 61,753 Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 61,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,567,000. Fortis makes up 1.0% of Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortis by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $902,656,000 after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $509,425,000 after buying an additional 173,226 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $379,614,000 after buying an additional 329,767 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Fortis by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,878,000 after buying an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortis in the fourth quarter worth approximately $182,242,000. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Desjardins assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $48.56 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a PE ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.15 and a 12 month high of $50.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.73%.

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.