3,498 Shares in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Purchased by Stanley Laman Group Ltd.

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AEP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in American Electric Power by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after purchasing an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,120,240,000 after acquiring an additional 587,145 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in American Electric Power by 13.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,021,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181,706 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.1% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,308,000 after acquiring an additional 374,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in American Electric Power by 2.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,428,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,077,000 after acquiring an additional 98,897 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Mizuho lowered American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

Shares of AEP traded down $1.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $85.26. 2,975,683 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,758,052. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.53 and its 200 day moving average is $80.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $44.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.51. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.38 and a 1-year high of $93.56.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.82%.

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.