Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Announces Earnings Results

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

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

Fortis stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,646,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,661. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.32 and its 200 day moving average is $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.74. Fortis has a 1-year low of $36.86 and a 1-year high of $46.06. The stock has a market capitalization 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Fortis in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently 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.