National Bank Financial Weighs in on Fortis Q4 Earnings

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Research analysts at National Bank Financial issued their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for Fortis in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial analyst P. Kenny forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.57 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.29 per share.

Separately, Raymond James lowered Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Price Performance

Fortis stock opened at $42.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Fortis has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.28.

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

Fortis Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortis

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 724.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.