American Electric Power Company, Inc. $AEP Stake Cut by Bollard Group LLC

Bollard Group LLC cut its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 393,690 shares of the company’s stock after selling 166,439 shares during the quarter. American Electric Power accounts for about 1.1% of Bollard Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Bollard Group LLC owned about 0.07% of American Electric Power worth $45,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,496,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,053,417,000 after purchasing an additional 828,588 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,437,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,509,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,514,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,661,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,690,659,000 after purchasing an additional 271,879 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,823,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,587,841,000 after purchasing an additional 83,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,316,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,378,000 after purchasing an additional 937,346 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AEP shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on American Electric Power from $148.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on American Electric Power from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on American Electric Power from $141.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on American Electric Power from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.10.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

AEP stock opened at $129.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.53. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.72 and a 1 year high of $139.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.67.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $6.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 10.21% and a net margin of 16.29%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. American Electric Power has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.120-6.420 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 6.35 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.80%.

About American Electric Power

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.