Fortis $FTS Holdings Lowered by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 98.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 967,496 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter worth about $335,980,000. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,898,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,034,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666,481 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 60.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,508,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,270,000 after acquiring an additional 947,079 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,564,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,335,000 after acquiring an additional 677,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,541,000 after purchasing an additional 536,118 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Fortis from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Fortis Trading Down 1.0%

Fortis stock opened at $56.66 on Thursday. Fortis has a 12 month low of $46.46 and a 12 month high of $58.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.27.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.02. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 14.21%.The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortis Profile

Fortis Inc is a Canadian diversified electric and gas utility holding company headquartered in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Through a portfolio of regulated utility subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission, distribution and generation assets. Fortis serves customers across multiple jurisdictions in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, focusing on the delivery of safe, reliable energy to residential, commercial and industrial users.

The company’s core activities include operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution networks, ownership of generation facilities, and investment in grid modernization and system resilience.