Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its holdings in Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 20.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 300,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 76,850 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.06% of Fortis worth $13,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 286.7% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Fortis by 158,500.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Fortis by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. TD Securities started coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, June 27th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Desjardins started coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.05 on Friday, hitting $47.22. 609,636 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 616,958. Fortis has a 1-year low of $39.39 and a 1-year high of $50.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $47.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.08% and a net margin of 14.20%. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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.