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

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.08.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AEP shares. Guggenheim downgraded American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AEP opened at $86.67 on Tuesday. American Electric Power has a 1-year low of $69.38 and a 1-year high of $93.56. The stock has a market cap of $45.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

American Electric Power Company Profile

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.