Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Raises Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,720,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 154,851 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Fortis were worth $71,396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Fortis by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC grew its position in Fortis by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,728,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during 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 shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $45.57 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. Fortis Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.08. The stock has a market cap of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.71.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm posted $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS 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 given 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 3.80%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

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.