Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Lowered to Market Perform Rating by Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ FY2024 earnings at $2.37 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.67 EPS and Q2 2025 earnings at $0.47 EPS.

FTS has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Price Performance

NYSE:FTS traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.96. 34,346 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 699,125. The company has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Fortis has a one year low of $36.86 and a one year high of $46.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $44.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.92.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortis will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.615 dividend. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 123.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 0.5% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 83,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Addison Capital Co raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 1.1% during the second quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 39,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in Fortis by 52.2% during the third 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 during the last quarter. 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.