American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.08.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cfra restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Guggenheim cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ AEP opened at $86.67 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.63 and a 200 day moving average of $80.59. The company has a market capitalization of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. American Electric Power has a 1 year low of $69.38 and a 1 year high of $93.56.

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

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 222.0% in the third quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Electric Power in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

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.