American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.93

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.93 per share on Tuesday, December 10th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is an increase from American Electric Power’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

American Electric Power has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. American Electric Power has a payout ratio of 59.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect American Electric Power to earn $5.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.2%.

American Electric Power Stock Down 0.3 %

AEP opened at $99.89 on Wednesday. American Electric Power has a twelve month low of $72.01 and a twelve month high of $105.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $100.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.52. The firm has a market cap of $52.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54.

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. American Electric Power had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business had revenue of $4.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. American Electric Power’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that American Electric Power will post 5.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AEP. Guggenheim raised their price target on American Electric Power from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Electric Power from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on American Electric Power from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of American Electric Power from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of American Electric Power from $109.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.43.

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.