Credit Industriel ET Commercial Makes New $578,000 Investment in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Credit Industriel ET Commercial purchased a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 130,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd grew its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 40,886,793 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $181,473,000 after acquiring an additional 18,857,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,508,000. Private Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $26,366,000 after buying an additional 3,656,840 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 85.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,730,749 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,539,000 after buying an additional 1,719,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 83.2% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,858,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,718,000 after buying an additional 1,298,030 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AQN. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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 reduced their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.75 to $6.25 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Finally, CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $5.92.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AQN traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $5.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,941,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,500,867. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company's 50-day moving average is $5.03 and its 200-day moving average is $4.79. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52-week low of $4.19 and a 52-week high of $6.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.17 and a beta of 0.65.

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 positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 39.12%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. Algonquin Power & Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.