Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) Price Target Cut to $6.50 by Analysts at Scotiabank

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) had its price objective decreased by Scotiabank from $7.50 to $6.50 in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AQN. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price target for the company from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Desjardins raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a sell rating to a hold rating and boosted their price target for the company from $4.75 to $5.75 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, National Bankshares decreased their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities stock opened at $6.17 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $6.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 205.50 and a beta of 0.66. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $9.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.63.

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

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.43 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.04%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 1,433.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Algonquin Power & Utilities

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AQN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 754.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,552,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $98,292,000 after purchasing an additional 13,731,305 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,322,000. Sasco Capital Inc. CT bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $18,156,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,936,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 13,293,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,699,000 after purchasing an additional 978,758 shares during the period. 62.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.