Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 533,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 36,587 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.11% of Fortis worth $22,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth 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 purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the 4th 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 bought a new stake in Fortis in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $149,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
FTS stock traded down $0.55 on Tuesday, reaching $44.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 440,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 566,251. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.66. The firm has a market cap of $22.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. Fortis Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06.
Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.03%.
Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".
Read Our Latest Report on 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.
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