Hennessy Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its position in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,476 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,300 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $5,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $509,425,000 after buying an additional 173,226 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,148,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $379,614,000 after buying an additional 329,767 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $258,068,000 after buying an additional 612,395 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $184,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Desjardins started coverage on Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE FTS traded up $0.04 on Wednesday, reaching $47.42. 179,382 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 610,350. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.99. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.02, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis has a 12 month low of $38.15 and a 12 month high of $50.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Fortis

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.