Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $332.58 Million Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,080,594 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 561,176 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 1.65% of Fortis worth $332,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Power Corp of Canada purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Fortis by 78.7% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 888 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the third quarter worth $41,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at $96,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Fortis stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Monday, hitting $37.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 554,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 845,995. The stock's fifty day moving average is $39.20 and its 200 day moving average is $39.97. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.30 and a 1-year high of $46.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 13.22% and a return on equity of 7.00%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.13.

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.