Raymond James Has Bearish Outlook for Fortis FY2024 Earnings

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Analysts at Raymond James dropped their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Fortis in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James analyst T. Genzebu now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.26 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $2.37. Raymond James has a “Market Perform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.27 per share.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $42.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.36. The company has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 930,331 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 507,068 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Fortis by 0.7% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,126,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $142,172,000 after buying an additional 22,411 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,890,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,330,000 after buying an additional 250,630 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortis by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,404,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,771,000 after acquiring an additional 223,733 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortis

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.