8,697 Shares in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,697 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $902,656,000 after acquiring an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $509,425,000 after acquiring an additional 173,226 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter worth about $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 77.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,853,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $131,330,000 after purchasing an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.62. 433,895 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 628,117. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $24.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The firm's fifty day moving average is $45.56 and its 200-day moving average is $44.04. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.15 and a 52 week high of $48.94.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Fortis in a research report 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 issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

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.