National Bank Financial Comments on Fortis Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NYSE:FTS)

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

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

Fortis Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:FTS opened at $39.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $39.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Fortis has a 12 month low of $36.30 and a 12 month high of $46.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.42.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Fortis by 5.3% in the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 9,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 2.2% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 651,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,732,000 after buying an additional 13,925 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 13.1% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 149,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,693,000 after buying an additional 17,300 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 23.6% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 109,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,184,000 after buying an additional 20,918 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 2.7% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,519,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,666,000 after buying an additional 198,494 shares during the period. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4382 dividend. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 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.