Scotiabank Weighs in on Fortis’ FY2024 Earnings (NYSE:FTS)

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Equities research analysts at Scotiabank reduced their FY2024 earnings estimates for Fortis in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst R. Hope now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $2.27 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.40. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.32 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Fortis’ FY2025 earnings at $2.33 EPS.

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

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $40.50 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 one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.08. The company has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 posted $0.63 EPS.

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 paid a dividend of $0.4382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Fortis by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,006,000 after purchasing an additional 21,059 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fortis by 5.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,352,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,516,000 after acquiring an additional 73,682 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 163.8% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,347,000 after purchasing an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Fortis by 11.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 153,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after buying an additional 15,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC bought a new position in Fortis during the third quarter worth $838,000. 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.