Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 999,974 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) by 27.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,694,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 999,974 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.56% of Fortis worth $107,826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 22.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 9.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 9.1% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 26,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 45.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 510,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,266,000 after purchasing an additional 159,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Fortis by 32.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 212,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,540,000 after purchasing an additional 52,248 shares during the last quarter. 49.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Stock Down 1.6 %

FTS opened at $42.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $20.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.44. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.76 and a twelve month high of $50.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.58.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 6.63%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, March 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Monday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.75.

Fortis Profile

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Fortis, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the electric and gas utility industry. It operates under the Regulated Utilities and Non-Regulated segments. The Regulated Utilities segment includes ITC Holdings (ITC), UNS Energy Corporation (UNS Energy), Central Hudson, FortisBC Energy, FortisAlberta, and FortisBC Electric.