Ingalls & Snyder LLC Lowers Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC trimmed its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,317 shares of the company’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after purchasing an additional 587,145 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,706 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 5.1% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after purchasing an additional 374,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 1.5% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 5,033,558 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,826,000 after purchasing an additional 75,124 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AEP shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group cut American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ AEP opened at $82.10 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $82.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.77. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $94.73. The firm has a market cap of $43.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 82.82%.

American Electric Power Company Profile

American Electric Power Company, Inc, an electric public utility holding company, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers in the United States. It operates through Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission and Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, and Generation & Marketing segments.