Fortis FY2024 EPS Estimate Raised by National Bank Financial

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – National Bank Financial upped their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Fortis in a research note issued on Monday, January 6th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.24 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $2.21. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.32 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Fortis’ FY2025 earnings at $2.35 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.46 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.61 EPS.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.01% and a net margin of 14.06%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS.

FTS has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of FTS opened at $41.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.99. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 1.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,291,000 after acquiring an additional 95,813 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Fortis by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $352,336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,728 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Fortis by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,190,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,839,000 after purchasing an additional 930,331 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Fortis by 15.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,230,000 after purchasing an additional 507,068 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Fortis by 0.6% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,372,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,040,000 after buying an additional 20,085 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.4382 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is presently 76.05%.

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.