American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AEP. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth $220,983,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,416,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,791,000 after buying an additional 2,165,888 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 109.5% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,753,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,079,000 after buying an additional 1,962,125 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth $121,605,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 4.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,760,223,000 after buying an additional 1,114,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of AEP opened at $105.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $56.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. American Electric Power has a twelve month low of $79.16 and a twelve month high of $105.73.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.24. American Electric Power had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 66.43%.

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.