American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Guggenheim downgraded American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $81.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group downgraded American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $87.07.

American Electric Power Stock Up 2.5 %

AEP stock opened at $88.15 on Wednesday. American Electric Power has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $92.89. The company has a market cap of $46.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The business had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in American Electric Power by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,998,081,000 after purchasing an additional 425,649 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

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.