Metis Global Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Metis Global Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,728 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Fortis by 31.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,142,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,259,000 after acquiring an additional 512,103 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,151,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,164,000 after acquiring an additional 270,417 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 782,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,418,000 after acquiring an additional 233,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,072,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,049,000 after purchasing an additional 229,972 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $44.17 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The company has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.47.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.615 dividend. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 71.85%.

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.