Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 164,150 Shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 90.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,436 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 164,150 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,751,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 1,638 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 533,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $22,188,000 after buying an additional 36,587 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,584 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $289,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on FTS shares. Desjardins assumed coverage on Fortis in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.01. The company had a trading volume of 106,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 609,048. Fortis has a one year low of $38.15 and a one year high of $50.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company's 50-day moving average price is $48.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.03. The firm has a market cap of $23.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.85, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.49.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortis will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.