Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) announced its earnings results on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 7.01%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.72 EPS.

Fortis Stock Performance

NYSE FTS traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.81. The company had a trading volume of 7,646,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,661. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.51. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The stock has a market cap of $22.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is 79.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.