Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 777 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,966 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $1,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AEP. Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the first quarter valued at about $1,615,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of American Electric Power in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,731,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,734 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its position in shares of American Electric Power by 646.9% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 261,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,510,000 after acquiring an additional 226,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in American Electric Power by 21.7% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 582,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,170,000 after acquiring an additional 103,771 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AEP. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of American Electric Power from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.15.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AEP opened at $103.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.38 and a fifty-two week high of $104.41. The stock has a market cap of $54.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.13 and a 200-day moving average of $89.82.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

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.