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

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.2857.

Several brokerages have issued reports on AEP. Barclays upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on American Electric Power from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on American Electric Power from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank upped their target price on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th.

American Electric Power Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of AEP opened at $111.99 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $106.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.08. The stock has a market cap of $59.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.40. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $89.91 and a 12 month high of $115.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.16. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 17.68%. The company had revenue of $5.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David Matthew Feinberg sold 8,058 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.74, for a total value of $819,820.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 10,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,045,276.76. The trade was a 43.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 24,173 shares of company stock worth $2,467,015 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 1st quarter valued at $568,042,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 19,631,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,145,130,000 after buying an additional 4,570,941 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,102,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,415,144,000 after buying an additional 4,323,569 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in American Electric Power by 176.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,004,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,526,000 after acquiring an additional 2,555,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in American Electric Power by 51.0% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,416,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165,888 shares in the last quarter. 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.