American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Declares $0.88 Quarterly Dividend

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.88 per share on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th.

American Electric Power has increased its dividend by an average of 5.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. American Electric Power has a dividend payout ratio of 59.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect American Electric Power to earn $5.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.5%.

American Electric Power Stock Up 1.2 %

American Electric Power stock opened at $89.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.54. American Electric Power has a fifty-two week low of $69.38 and a fifty-two week high of $92.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.04.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. Analysts predict that American Electric Power will post 5.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEP has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on American Electric Power from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on American Electric Power from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Guggenheim cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.14.

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.