Intact Investment Management Inc. Buys 114,060 Shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN)

Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,962,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 114,060 shares during the quarter. Algonquin Power & Utilities accounts for approximately 1.3% of Intact Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Intact Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.72% of Algonquin Power & Utilities worth $31,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 14.9% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 15,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 2,009 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 13.9% during the third quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 18,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 14.6% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 8.8% during the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 41,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 459,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 3,443 shares during the period. 62.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AQN shares. Desjardins upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $4.75 to $5.75 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $6.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $7.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, National Bankshares lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.50 to $7.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.67.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of AQN stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $6.12. 4,115,511 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,582,244. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.99. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. has a 12-month low of $4.90 and a 12-month high of $9.14. The stock has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 204.00 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 (NYSE:AQN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 1.06% and a return on equity of 5.64%. The firm had revenue of $666.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.73 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.1085 per share. This represents a $0.43 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,433.33%.

About Algonquin Power & Utilities

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.