Fortis (NYSE:FTS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Fortis (NYSE:FTS) announced its earnings results on Friday. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion during 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share.

Fortis Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE FTS traded up $0.49 on Friday, reaching $44.81. 7,646,555 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,661. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.50. Fortis has a fifty-two week low of $36.86 and a fifty-two week high of $46.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $42.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.51.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4324 per share. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Fortis’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTS has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James downgraded shares of Fortis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Fortis in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.