Meritage Portfolio Management Cuts Position in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Meritage Portfolio Management cut its stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,138 shares of the company’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in American Electric Power were worth $4,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in American Electric Power by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,591,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,150,657,000 after buying an additional 3,589,451 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in American Electric Power by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,798,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,021,000 after buying an additional 1,181,706 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd grew its stake in American Electric Power by 70.7% during the 3rd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,953,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,835,000 after buying an additional 809,067 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,311,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,304,000 after buying an additional 660,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in American Electric Power by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,892,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,120,240,000 after buying an additional 587,145 shares during the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

American Electric Power Price Performance

NASDAQ AEP traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $86.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,232,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,767,737. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 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 $94.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.53 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.29.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last released 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). The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. American Electric Power had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 11.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

American Electric Power Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid 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 yield of 4.05%. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AEP shares. UBS Group downgraded 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 research note on Monday, March 11th. Guggenheim cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $81.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho cut American Electric Power from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, American Electric Power has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

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.