American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Reaches New 1-Year High at $93.44

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $93.44 and last traded at $93.44, with a volume of 246139 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $92.59.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AEP. Barclays increased their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.43.

American Electric Power Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.33. The company has a market cap of $48.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released 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 company had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 worth $2,150,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth $175,667,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,927,234 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,734 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 221.9% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,715,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,451 shares in 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.