Mackenzie Financial Corp Sells 1,478,482 Shares of Fortis $FTS

Mackenzie Financial Corp lowered its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 24.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,558,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,478,482 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned approximately 0.91% of Fortis worth $217,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FTS. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Fortis by 2.1% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 220,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,052,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter worth $335,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Fortis by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,167 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Desjardins raised Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Monday, October 6th. National Bankshares reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Fortis from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of FTS stock opened at $52.53 on Friday. Fortis has a 52 week low of $40.32 and a 52 week high of $52.83. The company has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.22 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.24% and a net margin of 14.48%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.83%.

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.