Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 14.12%. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share.

Fortis Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE FTS traded up $0.33 on Wednesday, reaching $43.95. 523,215 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 635,641. Fortis has a 12 month low of $36.86 and a 12 month high of $46.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.57. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.62, a PEG ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James cut Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fortis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortis presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Fortis Company 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.