K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Invests $294,000 in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 50,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AQN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the fourth quarter worth about $28,322,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 851.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 3,765,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,797,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,124 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 1st quarter valued at about $9,924,000. Finally, Crestline Management LP lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 2,274,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,376,000 after purchasing an additional 874,642 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AQN. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.50 to $5.75 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. National Bank Financial upgraded Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. National Bankshares raised their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.75 to $7.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $7.75 to $7.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.36.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AQN traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.29. 3,368,550 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,652,915. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.91 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 1 year low of $4.90 and a 1 year high of $7.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.05.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a positive return on equity of 5.39% and a negative net margin of 12.44%. The firm had revenue of $598.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -51.02%.

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.