Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $58.23 Million Holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,402,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,560 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.28% of Fortis worth $58,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortis during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in 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 period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at about $149,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.57 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.67. 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 fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Company 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.