Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. $AQN Shares Sold by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC cut its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 468,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,488 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.06% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $2,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 114,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 5,693 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 14.6% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 48,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 6,203 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 59.6% in the 4th quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 50.1% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 21,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 7,092 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AQN shares. National Bankshares downgraded Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $6.75 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $6.00 target price (up from $5.00) on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $4.75 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.31.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

Shares of AQN stock opened at $5.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a one year low of $4.19 and a one year high of $6.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 0.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.04. The business had revenue of $535.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.64 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 57.66% and a positive return on equity of 4.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is -14.44%.

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.