American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target Raised to $89.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $89.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

AEP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Cfra reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and cut their target price for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of American Electric Power from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $87.07.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP opened at $88.15 on Wednesday. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $92.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.72.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. American Electric Power’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,998,081,000 after purchasing an additional 425,649 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after purchasing an additional 587,145 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after acquiring an additional 374,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

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.