Swiss National Bank Decreases Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Swiss National Bank cut its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,437,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 53,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Fortis were worth $59,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FTS opened at $44.92 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.86 and a twelve month high of $46.06. The company has a market cap of $22.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.68.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

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.