Short Interest in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Drops By 6.4%

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,440,000 shares, a decline of 6.4% from the August 15th total of 16,490,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AQN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. CIBC lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $7.75 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.33.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AQN opened at $5.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.98. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 12-month low of $4.90 and a 12-month high of $7.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of -11.15 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 5.36%. The firm had revenue of $598.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $635.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s payout ratio is presently -53.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AQN. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Seven Mile Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities during the 1st quarter worth approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

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.