Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) - Raymond James decreased their Q1 2024 EPS estimates for Fortis in a report issued on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James analyst D. Quezada now anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.64 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.68. The consensus estimate for Fortis' current full-year earnings is $2.37 per share.
Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.39 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.00% and a net margin of 13.22%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share.
Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of 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 issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.13.
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Fortis Trading Up 1.3 %
FTS traded up $0.49 on Monday, reaching $39.55. 434,873 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 839,448. The company has a market cap of $19.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.67. Fortis has a twelve month low of $36.30 and a twelve month high of $46.28. The company's 50 day moving average is $39.10 and its 200-day moving average is $39.96.
Fortis Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. This is an increase from Fortis's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. Fortis's payout ratio is 55.22%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Fortis by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,845,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,107,000 after purchasing an additional 142,731 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,421,010 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $737,804,000 after purchasing an additional 353,112 shares in the last quarter. QV Investors Inc. lifted its stake in Fortis by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. QV Investors Inc. now owns 1,016,319 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,014,000 after purchasing an additional 155,821 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortis by 32.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 158,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,027,000 after buying an additional 38,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Fortis by 1.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,410,825 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $206,425,000 after buying an additional 90,274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company's stock.
About Fortis
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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.
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