Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Short Interest Up 10.7% in December

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,270,000 shares, a growth of 10.7% from the November 30th total of 13,790,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,210,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AQN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. CIBC lowered their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $5.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.25.

Institutional Trading of Algonquin Power & Utilities

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 10.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,433,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,843,000 after purchasing an additional 135,400 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,720,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,105,000 after acquiring an additional 447,246 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew 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 buying an additional 5,426,523 shares during the last quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Algonquin Power & Utilities by 33.3% during the second quarter. Troluce Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,575,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,090,000 after acquiring an additional 643,352 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in Algonquin Power & Utilities in the third quarter worth about $7,173,000. Institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE AQN traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,097,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,568,631. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52-week low of $4.25 and a 52-week high of $6.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.45 and a beta of 0.68.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $573.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.46 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a negative net margin of 39.12% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.39 EPS for the current year.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.84%. Algonquin Power & Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -20.16%.

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.