4,391,444 Shares in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,391,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $182,242,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FTS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,722,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $902,656,000 after purchasing an additional 364,391 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortis by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,266,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $509,425,000 after acquiring an additional 173,226 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,330,000 after acquiring an additional 250,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,771,000 after purchasing an additional 223,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Fortis Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $45.23 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $46.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.48.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.