What is Scotiabank’s Forecast for Fortis FY2024 Earnings?

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Research analysts at Scotiabank reduced their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Fortis in a report released on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst R. Hope now anticipates 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.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Fortis Price Performance

FTS opened at $40.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a 12-month low of $36.86 and a 12-month high of $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.08.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.4382 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Fortis’s payout ratio is 71.43%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTS. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Fortis by 1.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,199,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,291,000 after purchasing an additional 95,813 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 26.9% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 9,071,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,336,000 after buying an additional 1,920,728 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 930,331 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Fortis by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,747,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,230,000 after acquiring an additional 507,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Fortis by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,372,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $131,040,000 after acquiring an additional 20,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.77% of the company’s stock.

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.