Fortis $FTS Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. cut its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,336,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 268,739 shares during the quarter. Fortis makes up approximately 2.0% of Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. owned approximately 1.46% of Fortis worth $349,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Fortis by 157.3% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in Fortis in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,000. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 55.8% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $50.95 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a 12 month low of $40.32 and a 12 month high of $52.83.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.05% and a net margin of 14.18%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. Fortis’s payout ratio is 75.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on FTS. Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, CIBC restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

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.