American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $140.58 and last traded at $140.2780, with a volume of 695098 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $135.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AEP. Seaport Research Partners raised shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $135.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of American Electric Power in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on American Electric Power from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Electric Power has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.38.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.52.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.72 billion. American Electric Power had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 10.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. American Electric Power has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.120-6.420 EPS. On average, analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 6.35 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On American Electric Power

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Czech National Bank raised its stake in American Electric Power by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 141,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,275,000 after acquiring an additional 5,314 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in American Electric Power during the fourth quarter worth about $32,032,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in American Electric Power by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 293,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,869,000 after purchasing an additional 8,302 shares during the period. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 983.0% in the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 63,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,365,000 after purchasing an additional 57,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 63,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,325,000 after purchasing an additional 9,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

American Electric Power Company Profile

American Electric Power (NASDAQ: AEP) is a major investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is primarily engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, operating a diverse portfolio of power plants and an extensive high-voltage transmission network. AEP serves retail customers through its regulated utility subsidiaries and provides wholesale power and grid services across multiple regional markets in the United States.

Operations span the full utility value chain: AEP owns and operates generation assets that include fossil-fuel, natural gas, nuclear and hydropower facilities, and it has been adding renewable resources to its mix.