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

Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $88.43.

Several analysts have commented on AEP shares. UBS Group lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Cfra restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,273,181,000 after buying an additional 405,114 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,589,451 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew 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 valued at $1,120,240,000 after acquiring an additional 587,145 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in American Electric Power by 9.9% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,303,000 after buying an additional 776,965 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

American Electric Power Price Performance

American Electric Power stock opened at $88.97 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $93.44. The company has a market cap of $46.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

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.