Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN cut its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 182,108 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 8,790 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN's holdings in Fortis were worth $7,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $180,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,082 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 1.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. raised its stake in Fortis by 72.8% during the fourth quarter. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. now owns 759,384 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,534,000 after purchasing an additional 319,884 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,238,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of FTS traded down $0.04 during trading on Thursday, reaching $48.29. 74,918 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 629,831. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.93. The stock has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.15 and a twelve month high of $48.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of "Hold".

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.