American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Shares Acquired by Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,621 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEP. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in American Electric Power by 222.0% in the 3rd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of American Electric Power in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 304.8% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of American Electric Power during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of American Electric Power by 91.6% during the third quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho cut 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 report on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $87.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. UBS Group downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $83.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of American Electric Power from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the 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 Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AEP traded up $0.81 on Wednesday, reaching $86.37. 3,861,438 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,774,414. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.25. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.38 and a 12 month high of $94.73.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by ($0.03). American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is presently 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.