Cumberland Partners Ltd Buys 1,700 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,159,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. JCIC Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 18,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $3,728,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE FTS opened at $43.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.62, a PEG ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.34 and its 200 day moving average is $43.57. Fortis Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 80.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.