National Bank Financial Forecasts Higher Earnings for Fortis

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) - Investment analysts at National Bank Financial increased their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Fortis in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, January 6th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny now forecasts that the utilities provider will earn $2.24 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.21. The consensus estimate for Fortis' current full-year earnings is $2.32 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Fortis' FY2025 earnings at $2.35 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.46 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.61 EPS.

FTS has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued an "underperform" rating for the company. Raymond James lowered Fortis from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Fortis stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $41.95. The stock had a trading volume of 320,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 364,725. 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 current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $43.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.99. The stock has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Fortis's payout ratio is 76.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,006,000 after buying an additional 21,059 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fortis by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $61,516,000 after purchasing an additional 73,682 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 163.8% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,347,000 after purchasing an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortis by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,974,000 after purchasing an additional 15,605 shares during the period. Finally, Code Waechter LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortis during the third quarter valued at approximately $838,000. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.