American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Shares Acquired by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 735,162 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,000 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $67,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in American Electric Power during the 4th quarter worth $220,983,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in American Electric Power by 109.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,753,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,079,000 after buying an additional 1,962,125 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,902,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,760,223,000 after buying an additional 1,114,954 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 18.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,866,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $704,549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power during the 3rd quarter worth $80,207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AEP shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $108.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on American Electric Power from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank cut shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim raised American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.77.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ AEP opened at $105.15 on Friday. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $79.16 and a 52 week high of $109.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.50.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.24. American Electric Power had a net margin of 15.08% and a return on equity of 11.27%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.43%.

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.