Wall Street Zen Upgrades Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) to “Hold”

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. TD Securities raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.25 to $6.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.55.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of AQN stock opened at $5.58 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 0.72. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 12 month low of $4.19 and a 12 month high of $6.24.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04. The business had revenue of $535.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Algonquin Power & Utilities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 6.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 81,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 4,840 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.6% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,652,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,007,000 after acquiring an additional 29,500 shares in the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 5.3% in the third quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 111,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 5,596 shares in the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter worth about $1,070,000. Finally, Davis Rea LTD. acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter worth about $67,000. 62.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Company Profile

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.