Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Shares Acquired by Natixis

Natixis grew its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 38.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,186,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 609,812 shares during the quarter. Natixis owned approximately 0.32% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $13,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AQN. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Seven Mile Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AQN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $6.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. National Bankshares raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.75 to $7.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Desjardins raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.25 to $5.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.70 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.06.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities stock traded up $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $6.14. The company had a trading volume of 4,719,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,367,919. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of -12.37 and a beta of 0.66. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $8.38.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The utilities provider reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $737.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $813.38 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a positive return on equity of 5.39% and a negative net margin of 12.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.108 per share. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is -87.76%.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. operates in the power and utility industries in the United States, Canada, and other regions. The company operates in two segments, Regulated Services Group and Renewable Energy Group. The company primarily owns and operates a regulated electric, water distribution and wastewater collection, and natural gas utility systems and transmission operations.