Versor Investments LP Has $479,000 Stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Versor Investments LP lessened its holdings in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 15.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Fortis were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortis by 53.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 123.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Addison Capital Co boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 1.1% in the second quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 39,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Fortis by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Stock Up 0.7 %

Fortis stock opened at $44.29 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $44.44 and a 200 day moving average of $42.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $22.02 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.47.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.615 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.55%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 76.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

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.