Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) Upgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) to a sell rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Scotiabank lowered their target price on 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 reduced their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $7.00 to $7.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a sell rating to a hold rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $4.75 to $5.75 in a report on Monday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AQN opened at $6.54 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.01. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $9.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 218.00 and a beta of 0.66.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 1.06%. The company had revenue of $666.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.1085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.64%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,433.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Algonquin Power & Utilities

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AQN. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the first quarter worth about $76,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 18,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 4,428 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 151.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 27,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 63.0% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 289,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,831,000 after buying an additional 111,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 38.8% in the first quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 705,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,457,000 after acquiring an additional 197,200 shares during the period. 62.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Company 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.