Bank of Nova Scotia Raises Stock Position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. by 1.5% in Q1, owning 9,761,735 shares valued at $50.14 million.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.14, exceeding expectations, despite a negative net margin of 48.78% and a revenue slightly below analyst forecasts at $692.4 million.
• Algonquin Power & Utilities has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.065 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 4.4%.

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,761,735 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 139,907 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 1.27% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $50,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 16.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,809 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 85.7% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,887 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 2,256 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 17,555 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 5,060 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 5.2% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 114,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 5,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 14.6% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 48,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 6,203 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AQN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Desjardins lifted their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $4.75 to $6.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.31.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AQN traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $6.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,113,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,667,567. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.88 and a beta of 0.68. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $4.19 and a fifty-two week high of $6.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $692.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.08 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 48.78% and a positive return on equity of 4.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Algonquin Power & Utilities's payout ratio is presently -16.77%.

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.