Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Stock Rating Lowered by Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis (NYSE:FTS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, 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.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on FTS. UBS Group upgraded shares of Fortis to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortis from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Fortis Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of FTS stock traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, hitting $43.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 34,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 699,125. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $44.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock 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.

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

Fortis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.615 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.60%. This is a positive change from Fortis’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Fortis’s payout ratio is 72.46%.

Institutional Trading of Fortis

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortis by 123.5% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortis during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortis by 53.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortis during the first quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortis by 52.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 57.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.