Scotiabank Lowers Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) Price Target to $6.50

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Scotiabank from $7.50 to $6.50 in a research note released on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Algonquin Power & Utilities from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the company from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Algonquin Power & Utilities to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. National Bankshares dropped their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:AQN traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $6.06. 4,205,921 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,811,100. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a twelve month low of $4.90 and a twelve month high of $9.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $6.02 and a 200 day moving average of $5.98. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 202.00 and a beta of 0.66.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $666.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.73 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 1.06%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.1085 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Algonquin Power & Utilities's payout ratio is 1,433.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AQN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 754.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,552,484 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $98,292,000 after purchasing an additional 13,731,305 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $28,322,000. Sasco Capital Inc. CT bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the third quarter worth $18,156,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the third quarter worth $8,936,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 7.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 13,293,748 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $78,699,000 after purchasing an additional 978,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company's stock.

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.