American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Stock Holdings Boosted by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,049 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,075 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AEP. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% in 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 in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd grew its position in American Electric Power by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after purchasing an additional 809,067 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in American Electric Power by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,304,000 after purchasing an additional 660,599 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after acquiring an additional 587,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AEP shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.14.

American Electric Power Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AEP opened at $88.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.10 and its 200-day moving average is $80.94. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.38 and a 52-week high of $92.88.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.31%.

American Electric Power 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.