Equities Analysts Offer Predictions for Fortis Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NYSE:FTS)

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Fortis in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, April 23rd. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.67 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.39 per share.

Separately, StockNews.com cut Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.13.

Fortis Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $39.06 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Fortis has a 12-month low of $36.30 and a 12-month high of $46.28. The company has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.42.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 651,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,732,000 after purchasing an additional 13,925 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 149,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,693,000 after purchasing an additional 17,300 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 109,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,184,000 after purchasing an additional 20,918 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,519,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,666,000 after purchasing an additional 198,494 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

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.