National Bank of Canada FI Raises Stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 65.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 532,895 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 210,507 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.10% of American Electric Power worth $44,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of American Electric Power by 13.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $737,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,706 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in American Electric Power by 5.1% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 7,714,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,308,000 after purchasing an additional 374,300 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in American Electric Power by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,428,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,077,000 after purchasing an additional 98,897 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Mizuho lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.14.

American Electric Power Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AEP stock traded up $0.33 on Monday, reaching $88.93. 773,036 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,736,181. The company has a market capitalization of $46.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $84.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $92.88.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $5 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.