Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 20,731 Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,731 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Krilogy Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 707,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,143,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 14.1% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 17,769 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 2,201 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 4.1% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 108,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,300 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 25.7% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 28,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 5,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 50,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 7,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

AQN opened at $4.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of -3.69 and a beta of 0.68. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52-week low of $4.67 and a 52-week high of $6.79.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $573.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.46 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 39.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.46%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is -20.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on AQN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Desjardins cut their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. CIBC lowered their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James lowered shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.18.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Company 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.