Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its stake in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 90.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,436 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 164,150 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Fortis were worth $794,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its position in Fortis by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 27,900 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 7.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 36,587 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 28,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP increased its position in Fortis by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 19,435 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,638 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Desjardins began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $72.00.

Fortis Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of FTS stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.99. The company had a trading volume of 636,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 610,939. The company has a market capitalization of $23.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.76. Fortis has a twelve month low of $38.50 and a twelve month high of $50.06. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $48.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.05.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 7.08%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.