Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 220,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $8,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FTS. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,477,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $801,263,000 after acquiring an additional 4,924,031 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at $120,880,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at $119,043,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Fortis by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,145,000 after buying an additional 2,438,223 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,653,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,154,000 after purchasing an additional 818,835 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th.

Fortis Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE FTS traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.59. 838,030 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,837. The company has a market cap of $22.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.30 and a one year high of $45.34.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.04% and a net margin of 13.90%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. On average, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.431 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.28%.

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.