Raymond James Has Bearish Estimate for Fortis Q4 Earnings

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS - Free Report) - Analysts at Raymond James dropped their Q4 2024 EPS estimates for Fortis in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James analyst T. Genzebu now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $0.83 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.84. Raymond James has a "Market Perform" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortis' current full-year earnings is $3.34 per share.

Fortis (TSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported C$0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.81 by C$0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 7.44%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share.

Separately, CIBC raised their price target on Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$60.89.

Fortis Trading Down 1.4 %

FTS stock traded down C$0.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting C$61.40. 480,363 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,452,225. Fortis has a one year low of C$51.02 and a one year high of C$63.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of C$30.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The stock's fifty day moving average price is C$60.78 and its 200-day moving average price is C$60.09.

Insider Transactions at Fortis

In other news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch bought 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$61.41 per share, for a total transaction of C$27,634.59. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 450 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$27,634.59. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Gary Joseph Smith sold 21,716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$61.45, for a total transaction of C$1,334,543.75. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.12%.

About Fortis

Fortis owns and operates 10 utility transmission and distribution assets in Canada and the United States, serving more than 3.4 million electricity and gas customers. The company has smaller stakes in electricity generation and several Caribbean utilities. ITC operates electric transmission in seven U.S.