Q1 2024 Earnings Forecast for Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) Issued By Raymond James

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Equities research analysts at Raymond James cut their Q1 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a research note issued on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James analyst D. Quezada now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.64 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.68. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.37 per share.

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

Fortis Trading Down 0.7 %

FTS stock opened at $39.29 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day moving average is $39.09 and its 200 day moving average is $39.95.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Fortis in the 1st quarter worth approximately $725,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Fortis by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 115,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,160 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc lifted its stake in Fortis by 84.4% in the 1st quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 23,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 10,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Fortis by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 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.