Fortis $FTS Shares Sold by Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 65.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 135,993 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $3,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 23,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Fortis by 17.5% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 43,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 6,510 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Fortis by 0.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 704,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,628,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. QV Investors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 1,064,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,707,000 after purchasing an additional 8,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 377,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,083,000 after purchasing an additional 76,850 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $51.05 on Friday. Fortis has a 1 year low of $40.32 and a 1 year high of $52.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.05. The company has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%.The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 73.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Zacks Research lowered Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Wednesday. Cibc World Mkts raised Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

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.