Fortis (NYSE:FTS) to Issue Dividend Increase - $0.44 Per Share

Key Points

• Fortis announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, a 2.9% increase from the previous dividend, with an ex-dividend date of August 19th.
• The company has a payout ratio of 69.5%, indicating its dividend is adequately supported by earnings, with expectations to maintain dividend coverage next year.
• Fortis shares saw a trading increase of 1.8%, reaching $49.85, with a strong market capitalization of $25.10 billion.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 1st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of 0.4448 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, September 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 19th. This is a 2.9% increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Fortis has a payout ratio of 69.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Fortis to earn $2.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 72.1%.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.82. 263,115 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 597,986. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.84 and a 200 day moving average of $46.34. The company has a market capitalization of $25.59 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis has a 1-year low of $40.32 and a 1-year high of $51.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.04. Fortis had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortis will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

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.