Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. $AQN

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 25.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,401 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AQN. Starboard Value LP increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 65,316,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,656,000 after acquiring an additional 3,175,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,715,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $162,859,000 after acquiring an additional 204,473 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 32.8% in the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 22,830,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,202,000 after acquiring an additional 5,640,705 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 13,051,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,852,000 after acquiring an additional 91,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.5% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 9,761,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,137,000 after acquiring an additional 139,907 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. CIBC raised their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $6.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. National Bankshares cut Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $6.75 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.31.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of AQN opened at $5.81 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -3.22 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued 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 is Monday, September 29th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.