Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) to Post Q1 2024 Earnings of $0.67 Per Share, National Bank Financial Forecasts

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Investment analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q1 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a report released on Tuesday, April 23rd. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.67 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.39 per share.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS.

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Fortis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortis currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.13.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE FTS opened at $39.16 on Thursday. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.30 and a twelve month high of $46.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.97.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 19,477,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $801,263,000 after purchasing an additional 4,924,031 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $120,880,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $119,043,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 13,380,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $553,145,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438,223 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,664,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $481,130,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,939 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 55.65%.

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.