Barclays PLC Lowers Stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Barclays PLC cut its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 652,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 177,176 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $2,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AQN. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,000. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 149.6% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 17,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 10,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 17,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 5,060 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AQN has been the topic of several recent research reports. National Bankshares reduced their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.75 to $6.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.25 to $5.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. CIBC lowered their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.92.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

AQN opened at $5.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.79. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52-week low of $4.19 and a 52-week high of $6.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of -4.16 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is -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.