Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,910,000 shares, a drop of 9.9% from the August 31st total of 15,440,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AQN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. CIBC decreased their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $8.50 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. National Bank Financial raised Algonquin Power & Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.50 to $5.75 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $6.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Algonquin Power & Utilities

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AQN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,248,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,893,000 after buying an additional 262,333 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 754.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,552,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $98,292,000 after acquiring an additional 13,731,305 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,565,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,759,000 after purchasing an additional 342,528 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 156.0% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 8,905,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,341,000 after purchasing an additional 5,426,523 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 320.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,273,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,633,000 after purchasing an additional 5,544,063 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

AQN traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $5.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,899,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,674,300. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.56 and its 200-day moving average is $5.95. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $6.79. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of -11.24 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $598.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $635.95 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 5.36%. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.065 per share. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently -53.06%.

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.