Code Waechter LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Code Waechter LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the quarter. Code Waechter LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 52.2% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the third quarter worth about $149,000. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at about $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $40.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06. The stock has a market cap of $20.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.07.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.43%.

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.