The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 105,112 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,104,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 105,112 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.63% of Fortis worth $120,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fortis by 123.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 53.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the first quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter valued at $69,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $61.00.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of FTS stock opened at $45.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.47. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.30 and a 1 year high of $45.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.86.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.04% and a net margin of 13.90%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.615 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 73.28%.

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.