Barclays PLC Trims Stock Holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Barclays PLC decreased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 652,332 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 177,176 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.09% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $2,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Krilogy Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 116.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the fourth quarter worth $905,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,510,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $139,845,000 after buying an additional 544,198 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 1,250,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,562,000 after buying an additional 250,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,179,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,808,000 after acquiring an additional 128,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AQN. CIBC lowered their price objective 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. Scotiabank upped 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. National Bankshares cut their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $5.92.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

AQN stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.40. 12,846,655 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,561,856. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52 week low of $4.19 and a 52 week high of $6.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.80. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of -4.19 and a beta of 0.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $584.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $644.73 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 39.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.81%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Algonquin Power & Utilities's payout ratio is -14.44%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Company Profile

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.