National Bank Financial Analysts Cut Earnings Estimates for Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) – Stock analysts at National Bank Financial decreased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note issued on Sunday, April 14th. National Bank Financial analyst R. Merer now expects that the utilities provider will earn $0.49 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $0.53. The consensus estimate for Algonquin Power & Utilities’ current full-year earnings is $0.50 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Algonquin Power & Utilities’ FY2025 earnings at $0.53 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. CIBC upped their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $7.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.85.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AQN opened at $5.76 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.97. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $4.90 and a fifty-two week high of $9.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 191.83 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $666.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Algonquin Power & Utilities

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AQN. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 720,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,188,000 after buying an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 31.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 42,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 10,029 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the first quarter valued at about $250,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 39.8% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 5,608 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 57,813.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 422,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,552,000 after buying an additional 421,457 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.1085 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,433.33%.

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.