Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $1.06 Million Stock Position in Fortis $FTS

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its holdings in shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) by 98.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 175,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,150,000 after buying an additional 50,632 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,138,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,942,000 after acquiring an additional 204,151 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,129,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,254,541,000 after acquiring an additional 536,118 shares during the last quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,215,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,891,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fortis in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Fortis in a report on Monday, April 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortis currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $56.66 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.27. Fortis has a twelve month low of $46.46 and a twelve month high of $58.78. The company has a market cap of $28.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 14.21%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Company 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.