Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Sells 325 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 724.3% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Fortis Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $44.92 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

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.