ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 2,302 Shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 309,139 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.06% of American Electric Power worth $25,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Apella Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the fourth quarter worth $348,000. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth $1,982,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in American Electric Power by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,096,000 after acquiring an additional 11,065 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in American Electric Power by 1,592.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 414,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,612,000 after acquiring an additional 389,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in American Electric Power by 26.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,531,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,432,000 after acquiring an additional 522,608 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Trading Up 2.0 %

AEP stock traded up $1.64 on Friday, reaching $84.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,406,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,190. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.96. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $94.73. The firm has a market cap of $44.34 billion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AEP. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Cfra reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

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.