Signaturefd LLC Purchases 5,199 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,199 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Capital Co increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 40,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,263 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in Fortis by 58.3% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 13,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 4,928 shares during the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Fortis by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 70,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,430 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 56,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 84,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,519,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on 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 issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $45.21 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.83%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 72.03%.

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.