Swiss National Bank Sells 40,700 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,581,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 40,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.32% of Fortis worth $65,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in Fortis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $531,000. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its position in Fortis by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 29,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Fortis by 111.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortis by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 91,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.13.

Fortis Trading Up 0.3 %

Fortis stock opened at $39.91 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.09 and a 200-day moving average of $39.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.30 and a one year high of $46.28.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 55.17%.

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.