Scotiabank Has Optimistic Outlook of Fortis FY2024 Earnings

Fortis Inc. (TSE:FTS) – Investment analysts at Scotiabank lifted their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a report issued on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst R. Hope now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $3.27 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $3.24. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $3.34 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Fortis’ FY2026 earnings at $3.51 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Fortis from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America set a C$60.00 target price on shares of Fortis and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Fortis from C$62.00 to C$65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$60.89.

Fortis Stock Down 2.2 %

FTS opened at C$58.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 128.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Fortis has a 12 month low of C$51.02 and a 12 month high of C$63.75. The stock has a market capitalization of C$29.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$61.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$59.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Keri Linda Glitch bought 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was purchased 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 C$27,634.59. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, Senior Officer Jocelyn Perry sold 11,809 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.19, for a total transaction of C$746,178.83. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.12%.

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.