American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) PT Lowered to $86.00 at Scotiabank

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its target price reduced by Scotiabank from $92.00 to $86.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on AEP. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Cfra restated a buy rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. UBS Group lowered shares of American Electric Power from a neutral rating to a sell rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $86.08.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AEP opened at $86.37 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. American Electric Power has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.73.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that American Electric Power will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.82%.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,225,322 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,998,081,000 after buying an additional 425,649 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 14.4% during 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 buying an additional 3,589,451 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after buying an additional 587,145 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 5.1% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after buying an additional 374,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

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.