BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 88,439 Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. $AQN

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,139,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 88,439 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities were worth $67,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AQN. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 32.8% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 22,830,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,202,000 after purchasing an additional 5,640,705 shares during the period. Packer & Co Ltd acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the first quarter worth about $23,197,000. Starboard Value LP boosted its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 65,316,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,656,000 after purchasing an additional 3,175,000 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 2,961.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,718,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities during the first quarter valued at approximately $13,293,000. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of AQN opened at $5.8150 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a one year low of $4.19 and a one year high of $6.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.42.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.04. The business had revenue of $535.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $535.64 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a positive return on equity of 4.76% and a negative net margin of 57.66%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 29th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is presently -14.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AQN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $6.25 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $6.00 price objective (up from $5.00) on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a report on Monday, May 12th. Desjardins lifted their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $4.75 to $6.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.31.

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.