Partners Group Holding AG Decreases Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Partners Group Holding AG lowered its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 97.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 407,402 shares during the period. Partners Group Holding AG’s holdings in Fortis were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 123.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 53.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the second quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America began coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $45.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.37. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06. The company has a market cap of $22.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.46%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.47%.

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.