Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Purchases Shares of 658,064 Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 658,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,586,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter worth approximately $54,000. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the first quarter worth $76,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the first quarter valued at about $82,000. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AQN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CIBC lowered their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.75 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Friday, October 11th. Raymond James cut Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $7.75 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $8.50 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.30.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

Algonquin Power & Utilities stock opened at $5.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.97. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $6.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.40 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.37 and a 200-day moving average of $5.89.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 5.36%. The firm had revenue of $598.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $635.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.10%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently -53.06%.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

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.