American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) PT Raised to $95.00 at BMO Capital Markets

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its price target hoisted by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $93.00 to $95.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target indicates a potential upside of 7.65% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AEP. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Cfra restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.36.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP opened at $88.25 on Wednesday. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $92.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,998,081,000 after purchasing an additional 425,649 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589,451 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after acquiring an additional 587,145 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after acquiring an additional 374,300 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is 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.