American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Receives $127.29 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $127.6579.

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on American Electric Power from $121.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $139.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $114.00 to $107.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lifted their price objective on American Electric Power from $108.50 to $124.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of AEP opened at $118.98 on Thursday. American Electric Power has a 52 week low of $96.85 and a 52 week high of $124.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $117.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.69.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). American Electric Power had a net margin of 17.23% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. American Electric Power has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.850-5.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be paid a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 55.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other American Electric Power news, Director Benjamin G. S. Fowke III sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.07, for a total transaction of $575,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,980,082.86. This represents a 16.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in American Electric Power during the 1st quarter valued at $320,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in American Electric Power by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 61.2% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 5.8% during the second quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 4,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

About American Electric Power

American Electric Power (NASDAQ: AEP) is a major investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is primarily engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, operating a diverse portfolio of power plants and an extensive high-voltage transmission network. AEP serves retail customers through its regulated utility subsidiaries and provides wholesale power and grid services across multiple regional markets in the United States.

Operations span the full utility value chain: AEP owns and operates generation assets that include fossil-fuel, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower facilities, and it has been adding renewable resources to its mix.