Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.26 EPS

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.26, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 7.04%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share.

Fortis Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FTS traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $43.84. 327,544 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 700,482. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.92. The firm has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.69. Fortis has a 52-week low of $36.86 and a 52-week high of $46.06.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 72.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTS shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James cut Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

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.