Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Invests $58,000 in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 12,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 45.5% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 12,959,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,806,000 after purchasing an additional 4,054,711 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 161.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 5,924,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,366,000 after buying an additional 3,656,840 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,997,000. Krilogy Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 116.7% in the 4th quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 1,621,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,214,000 after acquiring an additional 873,045 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 321.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,124,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,147,000 after acquiring an additional 858,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AQN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.75 to $6.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.25 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.94.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Up 0.3 %

AQN opened at $5.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $4.19 and a fifty-two week high of $6.79. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $4.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.01 and a beta of 0.71.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.04). Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 39.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The company had revenue of $584.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.73 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is currently -14.44%.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is an investment holding company, which engages in energy generation and water distribution facilities. It operates through the Regulated Services Group and Renewable Energy Group segments. The Regulated Services Group segment owns and operates a portfolio of electric, natural gas, water distribution, and wastewater collection utility systems and transmission.