Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 15.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,551,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 209,991 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.20% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $9,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AQN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,248,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $165,893,000 after acquiring an additional 262,333 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $98,292,000 after purchasing an additional 13,731,305 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 3.4% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,565,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,759,000 after purchasing an additional 342,528 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 156.0% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 8,905,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,341,000 after buying an additional 5,426,523 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 320.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,273,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,633,000 after buying an additional 5,544,063 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Desjardins decreased their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of 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 report on Monday, August 12th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. CIBC dropped their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.33.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:AQN opened at $5.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of -10.72 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.93. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 12 month low of $4.90 and a 12 month high of $6.79.

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

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -53.06%.

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.