Latitude Advisors LLC Invests $204,000 in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in American Electric Power by 99,268.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,804,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,801,349 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in American Electric Power by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,357,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,268,278,000 after purchasing an additional 2,560,192 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in American Electric Power by 41.7% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,340,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,073,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in American Electric Power by 26,257.9% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,900,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,966,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893,718 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Cfra restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Guggenheim lowered American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $81.24 on Thursday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.38 and a fifty-two week high of $94.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The firm has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $82.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.85.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 82.82%.

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.