Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $6.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 20.00% from the stock’s current price.

AQN has been the subject of several other reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.50 to $5.75 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Desjardins lowered their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Finally, CIBC lowered their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.75 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.30.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

NYSE AQN opened at $5.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $5.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.90. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52-week low of $4.90 and a 52-week high of $6.79. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 0.66.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 5.36%. The firm had revenue of $598.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,248,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,893,000 after purchasing an additional 262,333 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 754.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,552,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $98,292,000 after acquiring an additional 13,731,305 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,565,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,759,000 after acquiring an additional 342,528 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 156.0% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 8,905,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,341,000 after acquiring an additional 5,426,523 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 320.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,273,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,633,000 after acquiring an additional 5,544,063 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

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.