National Bank of Canada FI Cuts Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,374,425 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 196,668 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 1.10% of Fortis worth $220,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,845,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,107,000 after purchasing an additional 142,731 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortis by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,421,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $737,804,000 after acquiring an additional 353,112 shares during the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 1,016,319 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,014,000 after acquiring an additional 155,821 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 32.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 158,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,027,000 after acquiring an additional 38,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Fortis by 1.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,410,825 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $206,425,000 after purchasing an additional 90,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.91. 546,819 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 706,068. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $39.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.94. The firm has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.66%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 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 dividend of $0.4382 per share. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio is 54.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut Fortis from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.13.

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.