Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Trims Stock Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC decreased its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,236 shares of the company’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AEP. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power during the 4th quarter worth $175,667,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 542.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,541,000 after buying an additional 1,927,234 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 381.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,995,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,127,000 after buying an additional 1,581,734 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in American Electric Power by 221.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,715,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182,451 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in American Electric Power by 578.2% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 975,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,948,000 after acquiring an additional 831,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on American Electric Power from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $91.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $99.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.79.

American Electric Power Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AEP opened at $98.25 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.88. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.01 and a 12 month high of $105.18.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 13.52%. American Electric Power’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is currently 65.31%.

American Electric Power 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.