Bailard Inc. Acquires New Shares in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP)

Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 8,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $685,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its stake in American Electric Power by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 3,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 3,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 14,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 75.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AEP shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of American Electric Power from $92.00 to $86.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company 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 target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Cfra reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of American Electric Power in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of American Electric Power from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $75.50 to $73.00 in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, American Electric Power currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.08.

American Electric Power Stock Performance

American Electric Power stock opened at $85.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market capitalization of $44.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.42. American Electric Power Company, Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.38 and a twelve month high of $93.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that American Electric Power Company, Inc. will post 5.54 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. American Electric Power’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.82%.

American Electric Power Company 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.