American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Short Interest Down 10.2% in April

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) saw a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,400,000 shares, a decrease of 10.2% from the March 31st total of 9,350,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $86.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a PEG 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.67. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in American Electric Power by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,998,081,000 after purchasing an additional 425,649 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in American Electric Power by 14.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after buying an additional 587,145 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 5.1% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,308,000 after buying an additional 374,300 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEP shares. Mizuho cut shares of 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. StockNews.com cut shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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, Cfra reissued a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

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.