Intact Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,962,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 114,060 shares during the period. Algonquin Power & Utilities accounts for about 1.3% of Intact Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $31,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1,975.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 4,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 3,950 shares during the last quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $62,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $70,000. 62.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AQN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. CIBC boosted their target price 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. National Bankshares decreased their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Algonquin Power & Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of AQN stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.12. The company had a trading volume of 4,115,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,582,244. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $4.90 and a fifty-two week high of $9.14. The company’s fifty day moving average is $6.05 and its 200 day moving average is $5.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 204.00 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $666.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.1085 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 1,433.33%.

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.