Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 215,000 Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 215,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $957,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AQN. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 40,886,793 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $181,473,000 after buying an additional 18,857,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,508,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 22,830,789 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $101,202,000 after acquiring an additional 5,640,705 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 161.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 5,924,983 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,366,000 after acquiring an additional 3,656,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 237.5% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,939,576 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $13,040,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company's stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $5.49. 5,933,121 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,017,434. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.26 and a beta of 0.67. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $5.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.86. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 1-year low of $4.19 and a 1-year high of $6.65.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $692.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $699.08 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 39.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Algonquin Power & Utilities's dividend payout ratio is currently -15.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $6.00 price target (up previously from $5.00) on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. CIBC dropped their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $6.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Algonquin Power & Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Algonquin Power & Utilities has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.03.

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.