Analysts Issue Forecasts for Fortis’ Q1 Earnings (NYSE:FTS)

Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS) – Stock analysts at Raymond James upped their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Fortis in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James analyst T. Genzebu now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $0.70 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.66. The consensus estimate for Fortis’ current full-year earnings is $2.35 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ Q2 2025 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.66 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.43 EPS.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Fortis Price Performance

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $48.16 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.84. Fortis has a one year low of $37.47 and a one year high of $48.38. The stock has a market cap of $24.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Fortis had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortis in the 4th quarter valued at about $182,242,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortis by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,257,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,686,000 after buying an additional 1,853,082 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,443,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,878,000 after buying an additional 1,316,394 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Fortis by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,218,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,068,000 after acquiring an additional 612,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Fortis in the fourth quarter worth about $22,869,000. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4324 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.03%.

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.