American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Raymond James

Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) in a research report report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on American Electric Power from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $114.00 to $113.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $109.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.31.

American Electric Power Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ AEP opened at $102.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.13. The stock has a market cap of $54.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.42. American Electric Power has a 52 week low of $85.93 and a 52 week high of $110.48.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.14. American Electric Power had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. The company had revenue of $5.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that American Electric Power will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other American Electric Power news, EVP Quinton S. Lies sold 10,141 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.68, for a total value of $1,041,277.88. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $991,683.44. This represents a 51.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Matthew Feinberg sold 8,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.94, for a total value of $829,387.58. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,707,116.12. This represents a 23.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,256 shares of company stock valued at $2,688,472 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,269,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,711,519,000 after buying an additional 579,175 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 22,102,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,415,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,323,569 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 19,631,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,145,130,000 after purchasing an additional 4,570,941 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of American Electric Power by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,808,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,178,174,000 after buying an additional 283,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,603,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,510,000 after buying an additional 716,229 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.