Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Sells 10,647 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Key Points

• The Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec sold 10,647 shares of Fortis, reducing its stake by 1.0% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 1,087,922 shares worth about $49.4 million.
• Fortis recently downshifted its quarterly dividend to $0.4448 per share, representing a yield of 3.6%, following an increase from the previous dividend of $0.43.
• Several analysts have assigned ratings to Fortis, with Zacks Research downgrading the stock to "hold," while CIBC upgraded it to "sector outperform," reflecting mixed sentiments on its market performance.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec cut its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,087,922 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 10,647 shares during the quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec owned 0.22% of Fortis worth $49,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Fortis by 135.0% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,542 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 4,332 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Fortis by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 577,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $23,999,000 after purchasing an additional 28,642 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Fortis by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 347,403 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,442,000 after purchasing an additional 153,416 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Fortis by 114.7% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 161,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,265 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE FTS traded down $0.48 on Friday, hitting $49.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 393,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 559,589. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis has a 1-year low of $40.32 and a 1-year high of $51.45. The company's 50-day moving average is $49.06 and its 200 day moving average is $47.51. The firm has a market cap of $24.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th were paid a $0.4448 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 19th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis's payout ratio is currently 73.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FTS. CIBC upgraded shares of Fortis from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, August 4th. TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Fortis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

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.