Rock Point Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Rock Point Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 811,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,875 shares during the quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $4,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 156.0% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 8,905,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,341,000 after purchasing an additional 5,426,523 shares during the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,575,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,090,000 after buying an additional 643,352 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter worth $7,173,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 262,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the second quarter worth about $3,164,000. 62.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AQN. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Algonquin Power & Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.18.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AQN traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $4.79. 173,955 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,583,322. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a twelve month low of $4.67 and a twelve month high of $6.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.76 and a beta of 0.68.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $573.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $620.46 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 39.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.43%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -20.15%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Profile

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.