Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Shares Sold by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. reduced its position in shares of Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) by 25.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,500 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Fortis were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Fortis by 847.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 181,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,548,000 after buying an additional 162,430 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Fortis by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 121,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,062,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortis by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 186,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,759,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Fortis by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Fortis by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 17,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS stock opened at $47.13 on Friday. Fortis Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.15 and a 1 year high of $50.06. The firm has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $46.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTS. Desjardins started coverage on Fortis in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Fortis from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

About Fortis

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.