Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Sells 641,139 Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lowered its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 83.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 641,139 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 9.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 6,931 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 7.9% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 2,042,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,313,000 after buying an additional 149,700 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 18.8% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 439,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,613,000 after buying an additional 69,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AQN. National Bankshares lowered 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 report on Tuesday, January 9th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $6.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. 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, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

AQN opened at $6.22 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $6.05 and its 200 day moving average is $5.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 207.17 and a beta of 0.66. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 12-month low of $4.90 and a 12-month high of $9.14.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 5.64%. The business had revenue of $666.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.73 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.1085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.98%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 1,433.33%.

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.