Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) to Issue $0.07 Quarterly Dividend

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 0.065 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

Algonquin Power & Utilities has decreased its dividend by an average of 10.7% per year over the last three years. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a payout ratio of 70.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Algonquin Power & Utilities to earn $0.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 70.3%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:AQN opened at $5.53 on Friday. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 12-month low of $4.90 and a 12-month high of $6.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.29 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.96.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $598.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $635.95 million. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a return on equity of 5.36% and a net margin of 4.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $8.50 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Desjardins dropped their price objective on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Algonquin Power & Utilities in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $6.00 target price for the company. Raymond James lowered Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $7.75 to $7.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.50 to $5.75 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Algonquin Power & Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $6.33.

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.