Brighton Jones LLC Grows Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. $AEP

Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 64.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,473 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,460 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Hixon Zuercher LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.2% during the third quarter. Hixon Zuercher LLC now owns 15,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in American Electric Power during the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. First Bank & Trust boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 1.1% during the third quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 27,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in American Electric Power by 36.9% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Point Inc. purchased a new position in American Electric Power during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.1%

AEP stock opened at $114.62 on Tuesday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.91 and a twelve month high of $124.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.26.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.00% and a net margin of 17.23%.The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. American Electric Power’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. American Electric Power has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.850-5.95 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This is a positive change from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AEP. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $137.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of American Electric Power to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kelly J. Ferneau sold 1,006 shares of American Electric Power stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total transaction of $112,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $635,712. This trade represents a 15.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Benjamin G. S. Fowke III sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $575,350.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,980,082.86. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 16,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,883,522 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

American Electric Power Profile

American Electric Power (NASDAQ: AEP) is a major investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is primarily engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, operating a diverse portfolio of power plants and an extensive high-voltage transmission network. AEP serves retail customers through its regulated utility subsidiaries and provides wholesale power and grid services across multiple regional markets in the United States.

Operations span the full utility value chain: AEP owns and operates generation assets that include fossil-fuel, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower facilities, and it has been adding renewable resources to its mix.