American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $98.20.

AEP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Institutional Trading of American Electric Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEP. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 6.6% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in American Electric Power by 42.2% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in American Electric Power by 29.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 197,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,302,000 after purchasing an additional 45,167 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 774.1% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 66,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP stock opened at $95.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.03. American Electric Power has a 52 week low of $75.22 and a 52 week high of $105.18.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This is an increase from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.55%.

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.