Sciencast Management LP Invests $390,000 in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 9,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 54,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 15,605 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,126,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $142,172,000 after purchasing an additional 22,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 36.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 62,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,840,000 after purchasing an additional 16,763 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $45.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.72.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders 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 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend 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.