National Bank of Canada FI Purchases 516,148 Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,602,819 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 516,148 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 1.39% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $61,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AQN. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1,975.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 4,150 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares in the last quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the third quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in the fourth quarter worth $70,000. 62.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $6.50 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $7.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Desjardins raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $4.75 to $5.75 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, National Bankshares dropped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Algonquin Power & Utilities has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Price Performance

NYSE:AQN traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $6.54. The company had a trading volume of 7,890,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,349,525. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 218.00 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 52-week low of $4.90 and a 52-week high of $9.14. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $6.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.02.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $666.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $661.73 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a return on equity of 5.64% and a net margin of 1.06%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.1085 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Algonquin Power & Utilities's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,433.33%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities 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.