American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) Price Target Increased to $96.00 by Analysts at Barclays

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $91.00 to $96.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on AEP. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $90.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of American Electric Power from a sell rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $90.46.

American Electric Power Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AEP traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $102.48. 336,719 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,255,931. American Electric Power has a 12-month low of $69.38 and a 12-month high of $104.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $90.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.86. The firm has a market cap of $54.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.53.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company had revenue of $4.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. American Electric Power’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that American Electric Power will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current year.

American Electric Power Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. American Electric Power’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

Insider Activity at American Electric Power

In related news, insider Therace Risch 5,274 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Therace Risch 5,274 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Antonio P. Smyth sold 4,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $440,820.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $580,140. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in American Electric Power by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,630,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,273,181,000 after purchasing an additional 405,114 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Electric Power by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,586,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,303,000 after buying an additional 776,965 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,983,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,311,000 after purchasing an additional 147,826 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,586,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in American Electric Power by 542.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,282,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927,234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.24% of the company’s stock.

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.