Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 2,313 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Intech Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 17.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,313 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Fortis were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fortis by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 490,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,185,000 after acquiring an additional 54,417 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 194,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,007,000 after buying an additional 26,860 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 229,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,426,000 after buying an additional 13,811 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 95.8% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 1,204,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,779,000 after buying an additional 589,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,352,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,927,000 after buying an additional 221,043 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4 %

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

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.615 dividend. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $61.00.

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.