Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Bought by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 986,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,402 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned about 0.20% of Fortis worth $40,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $46.24 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $48.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.75.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus 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.