Raymond James Issues Optimistic Forecast for Fortis Earnings

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Research analysts at Raymond James raised their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a research report issued on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James analyst D. Quezada now expects that the utilities provider will earn $2.37 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $2.33. Raymond James has a “Market Perform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.33 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ Q1 2025 earnings at $0.67 EPS and Q2 2025 earnings at $0.47 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also commented on FTS. UBS Group raised shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS opened at $44.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.45 and a 200-day moving average of $41.97. Fortis has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.04% and a net margin of 13.90%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.57%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,072,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $793,049,000 after purchasing an additional 229,972 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Fortis by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 12,151,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,164,000 after acquiring an additional 270,417 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Fortis by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,291,000 after acquiring an additional 95,813 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 4.2% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 3,938,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,955,000 after purchasing an additional 158,178 shares during the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.