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

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.065 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

Algonquin Power & Utilities has decreased its dividend by an average of 10.7% annually over the last three years. Algonquin Power & Utilities has a payout ratio of 76.5% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings fall. Analysts expect Algonquin Power & Utilities to earn $0.34 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 76.5%.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE AQN traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $4.80. 4,814,254 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,643,672. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $5.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06 and a beta of 0.68. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $4.67 and a fifty-two week high of $6.79.

Algonquin Power & Utilities (NYSE:AQN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08. Algonquin Power & Utilities had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 5.36%. The business had revenue of $573.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Algonquin Power & Utilities will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on AQN. Desjardins decreased their target price on Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.50 to $5.25 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC dropped their target price on shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from $5.75 to $5.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. National Bank Financial raised shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Algonquin Power & Utilities from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $7.75 to $7.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.18.

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.