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

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $84.00 to $89.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

AEP has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. StockNews.com cut American Electric Power from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Guggenheim cut American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Cfra reiterated a buy rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $87.07.

American Electric Power Price Performance

AEP stock opened at $88.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.51. American Electric Power has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $92.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

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

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 7.8% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,650 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.9% in the first quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 6,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 5,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 1.5% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 8,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BLB&B Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.