CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 19,105 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 584,173 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 19,105 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.12% of Fortis worth $24,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 77.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $180,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $379,614,000 after acquiring an additional 329,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Canada LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 72.8% during the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 759,384 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,534,000 after purchasing an additional 319,884 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.45. 129,712 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 627,959. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.15 and a 12 month high of $48.94.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during 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 previous year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 3.57%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold".

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.