Stifel Financial Corp Sells 2,924 Shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Stifel Financial Corp trimmed its stake in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,924 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Fortis were worth $2,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Addison Capital Co lifted its stake in Fortis by 1.1% during the 2nd 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. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.1% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 22,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Fortis by 13.1% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 910 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $41.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.49. Fortis Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Research analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Fortis 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.