National Pension Service Grows Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,305,479 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 44,884 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $106,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AEP. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in American Electric Power by 304.8% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in American Electric Power in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. JNBA Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 91.6% during the third quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AEP shares. Barclays raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group downgraded American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.14.

American Electric Power Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:AEP traded up $0.76 on Thursday, reaching $90.46. 1,019,112 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,700,422. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.22. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $92.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $47.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50.

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

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 65.31%.

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.