Versor Investments LP Sells 15,148 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Versor Investments LP decreased its position in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 76.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,148 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Fortis were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 218.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,648,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,303,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,531 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Fortis by 52.0% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,922,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,278,000 after buying an additional 1,683,377 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth approximately $54,838,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 4.9% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,870,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,192,000 after acquiring an additional 604,615 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,265,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,014,227,000 after acquiring an additional 542,749 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $51.05 on Friday. Fortis has a twelve month low of $40.32 and a twelve month high of $52.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.05.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.24%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis 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.