Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.07

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 9th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.065 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th.

Algonquin Power & Utilities has decreased its dividend by an average of 10.7% annually over the last three years. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a dividend payout ratio of 70.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE AQN opened at $5.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.97. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a 52 week low of $4.90 and a 52 week high of $6.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AQN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Monday, August 12th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $7.75 to $7.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. Desjardins dropped their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, CIBC decreased their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company 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 assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.