Raymond James Weighs in on Fortis’ Q4 Earnings (NYSE:FTS)

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Analysts at Raymond James decreased their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a research report issued on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James analyst T. Genzebu now expects that the utilities provider will earn $0.57 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.60. Raymond James has a “Market Perform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.29 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ Q1 2025 earnings at $0.64 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.45 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.58 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.63 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.29 EPS.

Fortis Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE FTS opened at $42.80 on Friday. Fortis has a 52 week low of $36.86 and a 52 week high of $46.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.37 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid 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

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTS. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Fortis by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 149,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,194,000 after buying an additional 12,430 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Fortis by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 89,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,728,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.