American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Short Interest Up 16.7% in December

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,080,000 shares, a growth of 16.7% from the December 15th total of 8,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,800,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEP. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 51.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 257,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,582,000 after buying an additional 87,075 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 10.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,459,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,094,000 after purchasing an additional 141,556 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in American Electric Power in the second quarter valued at about $1,355,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT purchased a new position in American Electric Power in the second quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Wealth Alliance boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 1.2% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 13,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on American Electric Power in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $107.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upgraded American Electric Power from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $98.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their target price on American Electric Power from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank lowered American Electric Power from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on American Electric Power from $100.00 to $99.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.00.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $96.82 on Friday. American Electric Power has a 1-year low of $75.22 and a 1-year high of $105.18. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.50 and a 200-day moving average of $96.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $51.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.56.

American Electric Power Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.93 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 3.84%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.55%.

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.