Mackenzie Financial Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,130,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 37,228 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 1.23% of Fortis worth $254,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 293,656 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 114.3% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 341,377 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,167,000 after purchasing an additional 182,101 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $48.22. The stock had a trading volume of 121,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 616,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.15 and a 1-year high of $50.06. The stock's fifty day moving average is $47.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.67.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Desjardins began coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.