Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. $AQN

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,402,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $7,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AQN. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 84.9% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 42,223,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,868,000 after buying an additional 19,392,805 shares during the period. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the first quarter worth about $51,400,000. Ariel Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 1st quarter worth about $35,735,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 65.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 12,205,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,738,000 after acquiring an additional 4,808,539 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 1st quarter valued at about $13,293,000. 62.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities raised Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Desjardins boosted their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.25 to $6.75 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.59.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AQN opened at $6.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $5.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of -3.39 and a beta of 0.75. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 1 year low of $4.19 and a 1 year high of $6.48.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $600.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $596.67 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a positive return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 57.66%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -650.00%.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is an investment holding company, which engages in energy generation and water distribution facilities. It operates through the Regulated Services Group and Renewable Energy Group segments. The Regulated Services Group segment owns and operates a portfolio of electric, natural gas, water distribution, and wastewater collection utility systems and transmission.