Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Stock Holdings Reduced by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lessened its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 42.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,024 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $163,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,717,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $152,249,000 after acquiring an additional 413,104 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 7.9% during 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. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,881,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,496,000 after purchasing an additional 616,049 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,292,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,312,000 after purchasing an additional 99,374 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,962,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,309,000 after purchasing an additional 114,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AQN. Scotiabank cut their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $6.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. TD Securities upped their price target on 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 Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Desjardins raised Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $4.75 to $5.75 in a report on Monday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Algonquin Power & Utilities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE AQN opened at $6.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 220.33 and a beta of 0.64. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a one year low of $4.90 and a one year high of $9.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.04. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $666.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.73 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 1.06%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given 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 yield of 6.57%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,433.33%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities 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.