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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AEP. Mizuho lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.7 %

American Electric Power stock opened at $86.67 on Tuesday. American Electric Power has a one year low of $69.38 and a one year high of $93.56. The stock has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $83.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.59.

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

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 82.82%.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at $175,667,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,586,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,055,000 after buying an additional 1,043,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 70.7% in the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $145,835,000 after buying an additional 809,067 shares during the period. 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.