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

Raymond James lowered shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Raymond James also issued estimates for Fortis’ FY2024 earnings at $2.37 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.47 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.65 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.39 EPS.

FTS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Fortis in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Stock Up 0.8 %

FTS stock opened at $44.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 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. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.97. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.03%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortis will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.615 dividend. This is an increase from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Fortis’s payout ratio is currently 76.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Fortis by 15.7% during the third 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 buying an additional 507,068 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Fortis by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,490,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,848,000 after acquiring an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 11.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 54,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Fortis in the third quarter worth $1,142,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Fortis by 19.0% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 278,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,685,000 after purchasing an additional 44,495 shares in the last quarter. 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.