Forsta AP Fonden Acquires 143,400 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 94.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 294,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 143,400 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden owned 0.06% of Fortis worth $12,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FTS. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC grew its position in Fortis by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 17,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE FTS opened at $42.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.29. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The firm has a market cap of $21.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.43%.

Fortis 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.